Horrifying Scenes From Texas A&M as White Supremacist Richard Spencer Praises Donald Trump

WTF • Views: 69,243

I’ll present these short videos without comment, except to note that this speech by a white supremacist was applauded by more than a few of the people in this room.

UPDATE at 12/6/16 8:07:06 pm by Charles Johnson

Richard Spencer’s appearance at Texas A&M draws protests.

Texas A&M is in College Station. It was one of the town’s residents, Aggie alum Preston Wiginton, who invited Spencer to campus. Because the school is a public university, permission for the event could not be denied, officials said.

In a Monday interview on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” Wiginton said Spencer’s message contained some “valid points” that the election of Donald Trump has further validated.

“I think (the United States) was at one time (a white nation),” Wiginton told CNN. “I think the reaction to Trump being elected, and the reaction with the alt-right being popular, is a reaction to it declining as a white nation.”

UPDATE at 12/6/16 8:21:47 pm by Charles Johnson

More on the racist who invited Spencer to Texas A&M, from the SPLC: Preston Wiginton Emerges in Russia Promoting Race Hate | Southern Poverty Law Center.

Virtually unknown just three years ago, Preston Wiginton has become a key white power activist in Russia and the U.S.

He lives part of the year in a Moscow apartment that he sublets from former Klan boss David Duke. His best friends are Russian skinheads. He boasts of pumping $50,000 a year of his own money into the white nationalist movement. He’s tight with the leader of the racist British National Party as well as ultra-right politicians and white supremacist academics in Russia, his adopted homeland.

His name is Preston Wiginton, and his newfound purpose in life is forging international connections between anti-immigration extremists and white supremacists to prevent the populations of “white nations” from becoming what he has termed “a homogenous muddle of sludge.”

A 43-year-old native Texan and former owner of a shipping pallet manufacturing company, Wiginton declined to comment for this article when contacted by E-mail, calling himself “the wrong Goy” to ask for information. “You [the Southern Poverty Law Center] have a political objective to destroy European and Slavic peoples and cultures,” Wiginton wrote. “We can exist only if we live in the yoke of your Judaic system.”

Wiginton first appeared on the white nationalist scene in October 2005, not long after he turned 40, when he attended Hammerfest, a neo-Nazi skinhead festival in Draketown, Ga. It’s unclear from his prolific subsequent blog posts and essays whether he subscribed to white nationalist ideology relatively late in life or was a longtime believer who came out publicly in middle age. Either way, it’s certain that in less than two years Wiginton became a major behind-the-scenes player in the white nationalist movement and the most dynamic American far-right extremist making waves abroad other than Duke, who Wiginton calls a good friend and claims to speak with twice a week.

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477 comments
1
Backwoods_Sleuth  Dec 6, 2016 • 7:50:30pm

have to repost this one from downstairs:

2
klys (maker of Silmarils)  Dec 6, 2016 • 7:52:39pm

I’m just sitting here looking at this news and I don’t know what to say. I mean, here we are. It’s 2016. And it turns out there are a lot of white men who are terrified by the fact that even with all their privilege, they still haven’t succeeded like they think they deserve.

And here we are.

I don’t know yet how we have that conversation or what we say to that, but I guess we’re all going to keep working on figuring that out.

3
Kragar  Dec 6, 2016 • 7:52:40pm
4
mmmirele  Dec 6, 2016 • 7:52:45pm

I’m a graduate of the rival university (UT Austin, class of 1984), but this T-sip is thankful for the Aggies who gave Richard Spencer hell tonight.

5
retired cynic  Dec 6, 2016 • 7:52:49pm

Wow, I went to mistlejoe’s twitter, and it is awful. Just a swarm. If twitter wanted to do some housecleaning, they could start with those comments!

6
klys (maker of Silmarils)  Dec 6, 2016 • 7:58:25pm

Meanwhile, I know it was discussed downstairs, but:

7
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:00:06pm
8
Joe Bacon  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:00:12pm

Thanks to our asleep at the switch Corporate media, Richard Spencer is now the heart and soul of the Republican Party.

9
jaunte  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:02:42pm
10
Kragar  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:03:13pm
11
Eclectic Cyborg  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:04:06pm

Can someone explain to me why the fuck A&M
even invited Spencer in the first place?

12
Shiplord Kirel  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:04:57pm

GOD DAMN!

I thought I would never, ever see this in the United States. It not only can happen here, it has happened here. This is not a fringe-dwelling crank but someone whose movement has the ear of the President of the United States.

I am not given to alarmism or hysteria but I cannot ignore the evidence of my own eyes. Pogroms and vigilante terrorism are coming. The fascist hordes are already armed. They are counting on having a monopoly of weapons. Don’t concede them that monopoly: Arm yourselves and be ready. It is your right and your duty.

13
jaunte  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:05:14pm

re: #11 Eclectic Cyborg

I think it was an ex-student who invited him, rather than the university.

14
Backwoods_Sleuth  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:05:30pm
15
Joe Bacon  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:06:07pm

re: #14 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

“Peaceful event” my @$$…

16
jaunte  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:06:21pm

“There has been deep concern expressed by our Aggie community about an individual planning to speak at our campus. To be clear, Texas A&M University - including faculty, staff, students and/or student groups - did not invite this speaker to our campus nor do we endorse his rhetoric in any way. In fact, our leadership finds his views as expressed to date in direct conflict with our core values.

“Private citizens are permitted to reserve space available to the public as we are a public university as is the case here. Public groups must cover all rental expenses so that state resources are not burdened. This rental is classified as a “Class 5: non-Texas A&M University-related” use of public space in the school’s events guidelines typically reserved for community events, wedding receptions and local high school events.”

today.tamu.edu

17
stpaulbear  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:06:23pm
Minnesota’s Mall of America is receiving backlash after they hired a Black Santa for the first time.

Guess what happens online…

18
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:07:19pm

re: #8 Joe Bacon

Thanks to our asleep at the switch Corporate media, Richard Spencer is now the heart and soul of the Republican Party.

Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of fuckers. The GOP rank-and-file deserves the cruel fate that ultimately awaits them.

19
jaunte  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:07:33pm

“…According to the A&M student newspaper The Battalion, he was invited by Preston Wiginton, a white nationalist who briefly attended A&M last decade. Wigginton has long been an incendiary presence on campus. He has clashed with professors and invited other white nationalist speakers to speak.”
texastribune.org

20
Joe Bacon  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:08:24pm

re: #17 stpaulbear

Guess what happens online…

Those bigots should be forced to listen to this!

Akim & Teddy Vann - Santa Claus Is A Black Man

21
Charles Johnson  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:08:33pm

Richard Spencer’s appearance at Texas A&M draws protests

Texas A&M is in College Station. It was one of the town’s residents, Aggie alum Preston Wiginton, who invited Spencer to campus. Because the school is a public university, permission for the event could not be denied, officials said.

In a Monday interview on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” Wiginton said Spencer’s message contained some “valid points” that the election of Donald Trump has further validated.

“I think (the United States) was at one time (a white nation),” Wiginton told CNN. “I think the reaction to Trump being elected, and the reaction with the alt-right being popular, is a reaction to it declining as a white nation.”

22
Eclectic Cyborg  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:09:48pm

re: #19 jaunte

Couldn’t they just ban his ass from renting their spaces ever again??

23
SteveMcG RN  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:10:13pm

re: #17 stpaulbear

I had a Jewish neighbor who played Santa all the time. Dude even looked like Santa. When he wasn’t playing Santa he and his wife would run red teams to try to test security here and there. Oh yeah, he was telling me about Egypt once before I visited on a trip. At the time the greatest danger to tourists was motor vehicle traffic. (All the way back in 2008). Thing I remember most about the conversation was that he loved Egypt but he can’t go back. You just knew there was a story.

24
jaunte  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:10:56pm

re: #22 Eclectic Cyborg

They’d probably have to shut it to everyone.

25
BeachDem  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:11:11pm

re: #8 Joe Bacon

Thanks to our asleep at the switch Corporate media, Richard Spencer is now the heart and soul of the Republican Party.

Spencer is so good at playing wonky millennial it makes you want to vomit. Think of him as an Ezra Klein for people who wouldn’t mind putting people named Ezra Klein on a train…

A person who walks into a congressional office in a white hood asking for a meeting about the Jewish pestilence isn’t likely to get very far, but a clean-cut guy exuding the same white-collar blandness as that annoying guy at work who won’t shut up about his kickball league or Trunk Club membership is another story. That’s what makes Richard Spencer and the National Policy Institute so scary.

huffingtonpost.com

26
teleskiguy  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:11:13pm

Things that make me go 🤔.

27
Charles Johnson  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:11:54pm

White supremacists are already coming at me on Twitter for tweeting this.

28
teleskiguy  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:13:25pm
29
stpaulbear  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:13:39pm

re: #27 Charles Johnson

White supremacists are already coming at me on Twitter for tweeting this.

I’m imagining your surprise.

30
jaunte  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:13:49pm

Blockety-block.

31
Eclectic Cyborg  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:13:49pm

re: #27 Charles Johnson

White supremacists are already coming at me on Twitter for tweeting this.

Fuck every last one of them.

32
mr.fusion  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:14:54pm

Yea, but he’s so well dressed

33
Charles Johnson  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:15:21pm
34
Joe Bacon  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:15:24pm

Frank warned us this would happen…

Frank Zappa- Dumb All Over

35
Unshaken Defiance  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:16:04pm

re: #12 Shiplord Kirel

GOD DAMN!

I thought I would never, ever see this in the United States. It not only can happen here, it has happened here. This is not a fringe-dwelling crank but someone whose movement has the ear of the President of the United States.

I am not given to alarmism or hysteria but I cannot ignore the evidence of my own eyes. Pogroms and vigilante terrorism are coming. The fascist hordes are already armed. They are counting on having a monopoly of weapons. Don’t concede them that monopoly: Arm yourselves and be ready. It is your right and your duty.

Thing is to gather trustworthy stable, calm types to the task. Too many nuts in this candy bar.

36
teleskiguy  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:17:45pm

re: #12 Shiplord Kirel

Arm yourselves and be ready. It is your right and your duty.

I would add as a caveat that if you’ve never been armed but are thinking about it, it’s not about just having the weapons and ammunition, it’s more important that you know how to use them and maintain them, and that requires practice practice practice. Take a hunter’s safety course or if you want to carry pistols a conceal-carry course. And use the weapons at a range, and clean them, etc.

37
BeachDem  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:18:16pm

re: #19 jaunte

“…According to the A&M student newspaper The Battalion, he was invited by Preston Wiginton, a white nationalist who briefly attended A&M last decade. Wigginton has long been an incendiary presence on campus. He has clashed with professors and invited other white nationalist speakers to speak.”
texastribune.org

from 2008 about Preston Wiginton:
He lives part of the year in a Moscow apartment that he sublets from former Klan boss David Duke. His best friends are Russian skinheads. He boasts of pumping $50,000 a year of his own money into the white nationalist movement. He’s tight with the leader of the racist British National Party as well as ultra-right politicians and white supremacist academics in Russia, his adopted homeland.

splcenter.org

Seems they’ve had 8 years to rewrite the parameters of who could rent the hall…

38
BeachDem  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:20:09pm

re: #21 Charles Johnson

Richard Spencer’s appearance at Texas A&M draws protests

So glad CNN felt it was important to hear what Wiginton had to say. Is there a Nazi they WON’T interview?

39
Joe Bacon  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:22:20pm

re: #38 BeachDem

So glad CNN felt it was important to hear what Wiginton had to say. Is there a Nazi they WON’T interview?

CNN loves to snort that Magic Balance Fairy Dust…

40
retired cynic  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:22:43pm

re: #38 BeachDem

So glad CNN felt it was important to hear what Wiginton had to say. Is there a Nazi they WON’T interview?

I’m so glad I had my TV service cancelled. GIGO

41
teleskiguy  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:24:13pm

Richard Spencer should be out on a street corner yelling at cars all day. Alas, this is a cruel uncaring universe.

42
BeachDem  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:24:34pm

re: #39 Joe Bacon

CNN loves to snort that Magic Balance Fairy Dust…

How do you balance a Nazi who sublets an apartment in Moscow from David Duke?

43
jaunte  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:24:42pm

re: #39 Joe Bacon

CNN loves to snort that Magic Balance Fairy Dust…

44
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:25:29pm

re: #12 Shiplord Kirel

I am not given to alarmism or hysteria but I cannot ignore the evidence of my own eyes. Pogroms and vigilante terrorism are coming. The fascist hordes are already armed. They are counting on having a monopoly of weapons. Don’t concede them that monopoly: Arm yourselves and be ready. It is your right and your duty.

That made me think of the “price of freedom is eternal vigilance” line. Out of curiosity, I looked up the backstory of the saying, and it’s pretty interesting.

I like the Aldous Huxley variant, “Eternal vigilance is not only the price of liberty; eternal vigilance is the price of human decency.”

45
Stanley Sea  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:25:32pm

re: #23 SteveMcG RN

Egypt & the pyramids is my only bucket list. I want to stay for days though. No, don’t just day trip me.

46
Shiplord Kirel  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:25:58pm

re: #36 teleskiguy

I would add as a caveat that if you’ve never been armed but are thinking about it, it’s not about just having the weapons and ammunition, it’s more important that you know how to use them and maintain them, and that requires practice practice practice. Take a hunter’s safety course or if you want to carry pistols a conceal-carry course. And use the weapons at a range, and clean them, etc.

An excellent point. The best weapons in the world are worse than useless without the skill to use them.

47
Unshaken Defiance  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:26:27pm

re: #27 Charles Johnson

White supremacists are already coming at me on Twitter for tweeting this.

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

48
Stanley Sea  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:26:44pm

re: #26 teleskiguy

Things that make me go 🤔.

[Embedded content]

That’s called a rally against hate.

49
teleskiguy  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:27:41pm

27 years ago today. Gun violence in schools is not unique to our country.

50
whitebeach  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:27:48pm

re: #34 Joe Bacon

Frank warned us this would happen…

[Embedded content]

Many times in many ways:

Concentration moon

Over the camp in the valley

Concentration moon

Wish I was back in the alley

51
Backwoods_Sleuth  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:28:14pm
52
retired cynic  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:29:04pm

re: #51 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

They should be able to recognize them.

53
Joe Bacon  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:29:15pm

re: #42 BeachDem

How do you balance a Nazi who sublets an apartment in Moscow from David Duke?

Easy! Republicans will bring up Rev. Wright again…and again…and again…and again…

54
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:31:45pm

Truth.

55
BeachDem  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:32:01pm

re: #51 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

Irony officially died at 5:58 pm 6 December 2016

56
goddamnedfrank  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:33:34pm

re: #12 Shiplord Kirel

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

57
Stanley Sea  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:34:03pm

re: #38 BeachDem

So glad CNN felt it was important to hear what Wiginton had to say. Is there a Nazi they WON’T interview?

Below Deck!!

58
goddamnedfrank  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:34:15pm
59
Backwoods_Sleuth  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:35:58pm

re: #58 goddamnedfrank

60
teleskiguy  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:36:29pm

re: #56 goddamnedfrank

o8or8VGXHuQDuXyjx+htxGroi44xVxq2vVQgjMoitAE=

61
Eclectic Cyborg  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:37:35pm

re: #45 Stanley Sea

Egypt & the pyramids is my only bucket list. I want to stay for days though. No, don’t just day trip me.

Make sure to check for grain.

//

62
Eclectic Cyborg  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:39:34pm

re: #58 goddamnedfrank

Looks more like a Trumpa loompa to me.

63
Joe Bacon  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:40:40pm

re: #58 goddamnedfrank

[Embedded content]

Gosh, I’m shocked that it doesn’t come with a “Make America Great Again” cap!

64
HappyWarrior  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:41:08pm

re: #54 Myron Falwell (no relation)

Truth.

[Embedded content]

Word.

65
Backwoods_Sleuth  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:43:06pm

re: #54 Myron Falwell (no relation)

Truth.

[Embedded content]

66
goddamnedfrank  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:43:12pm

re: #60 teleskiguy

[Embedded content]

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

67
HappyWarrior  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:43:14pm

We have entered the new fascism. I wish I was still in school to protest these white supremacist pigs.

68
HappyWarrior  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:46:12pm

No one was ever forbidden to say Merry Christmas and Corey goddamn knows it. So sick of this stupid bullshit. It’s simple. You want to say Merry Christmas to someone like me who celebrates Christmas, I thank you but there are other holidays this time of year too hence Happy Holidays. The constant whining about this really puts a damper on an otherwise joyful time of year.

69
Joe Bacon  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:47:41pm

re: #66 goddamnedfrank

You may need two of them to survive His Ass-Holeyness.

70
whitebeach  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:47:59pm

re: #67 HappyWarrior

We have entered the new fascism. I wish I was still in school to protest these white supremacist pigs.

I didn’t realize there was some educational restriction.

71
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:48:34pm

re: #58 goddamnedfrank

It’s not the holiday season until commericals for the Chia and the Clapper play incessantly on the TV.

72
bratwurst  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:49:01pm

re: #58 goddamnedfrank

This is the first time ever that chia looks better on someone’s head than their actual hair!

73
Backwoods_Sleuth  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:49:12pm
74
HappyWarrior  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:50:36pm

re: #70 whitebeach

I didn’t realize there was some educational restriction.

There’s isn’t but we’re I still an undergraduate, I’d be able to focus more time.

75
BeachDem  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:52:03pm

re: #68 HappyWarrior

No one was ever forbidden to say Merry Christmas and Corey goddamn knows it. So sick of this stupid bullshit. It’s simple. You want to say Merry Christmas to someone like me who celebrates Christmas, I thank you but there are other holidays this time of year too hence Happy Holidays. The constant whining about this really puts a damper on an otherwise joyful time of year.

You know what, I’m an atheist, raised Jewish, and people have been saying Merry Christmas to me for fucking ever. Why, just today, three different people said it (one lady told me to have a blessed holiday season as well.) I get the “have a blessed day” at about every store I shop in. (it is, after all, south by dog carolina.) I’m not offended, I’m not upset, I’m not fucking anything. (I do roll my eyes at all the blessing, but what are ya gonna do?)

It is just the stupidest, most unimportant bit of bullshit of all time. Retailers changed to Happy Holidays for their financial benefit. Period. Paragraph.

76
jeffreyw  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:52:06pm

re: #73 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

Needs moar kitteh!

Imgur

77
retired cynic  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:52:48pm

re: #74 HappyWarrior

There’s isn’t but we’re I still an undergraduate, I’d be able to focus more time.

Some of us are old and crippled and live a long way from a college campus where we could really let fly. I protested on a big campus during the Vietnam War, and Watergate.

78
HappyWarrior  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:56:01pm

re: #75 BeachDem

You know what, I’m an atheist, raised Jewish, and people have been saying Merry Christmas to me for fucking ever. Why, just today, three different people said it (one lady told me to have a blessed holiday season as well.) I get the “have a blessed day” at about every store I shop in. (it is, after all, south by dog carolina.) I’m not offended, I’m not upset, I’m not fucking anything. (I do roll my eyes at all the blessing, but what are ya gonna do?)

It is just the stupidest, most unimportant bit of bullshit of all time. Retailers changed to Happy Holidays for their financial benefit. Period. Paragraph.

You’d think the right that claims to admire capitalism would get that. Hell they could look at what FNC and Trump themselves send out.

79
HappyWarrior  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:57:11pm

re: #77 retired cynic

Some of us are old and crippled and live a long way from a college campus where we could really let fly. I protested on a big campus during the Vietnam War, and Watergate.

I did my share of protests too. Kinda tough to get on campus while working. I’m doing what I can through my line of work tho.

80
Eclectic Cyborg  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:58:07pm

Aw hell the craziness is seeping over the border…

81
Unshaken Defiance  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:58:11pm

re: #75 BeachDem
Who was ever offended by a misplaced pleasant greeting? Short of channeling a porcupine personality, why be upset? So then why worry about saying Merry Christmas in stead of Happy Holidays outside of a Mosque, Jewish Temple or House Of Flying Spaghetti Monster (aka take out pizza) ? If someone puffs up and says “I’m atheist I don’t believe in magic Jesus” I’ll just wish them a great weekend, what with Christmas falling on Saturday.

82
Amory Blaine  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:58:29pm

Orem police search for drone-flying Peeping Tom; takes pics of neighbors through bedroom and bathroom windows

OREM, Utah, Dec. 4, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — Orem police are hoping the man who is missing a drone — one found hovering outside a private bathroom window and shooting video of bathroom activities — will give them a call.

Martinez put the following notice on the Orem Police Department Facebook page to alert the owner that his missing quadcopter had been found:

“If you answer yes to ALL of the following questions please call.”

1 — Are you missing a quadcopter?
2 — Did you lose it this morning, in Orem?
3 — Are you looking over your shoulder to see if the police are following you?
4 — Have you been convicted of voyeurism in the past?
5 — Does the SD card in your quadcopter camera have videos of people in their private bedrooms and/or bathrooms?
6 — On the same SD card is there a picture of you flying your quadcopter?
7 — Would you like to turn yourself in before we have to come knocking at your door, maybe on Christmas morning, with a warrant?”

83
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:58:45pm

re: #68 HappyWarrior

No one was ever forbidden to say Merry Christmas and Corey goddamn knows it. So sick of this stupid bullshit. It’s simple. You want to say Merry Christmas to someone like me who celebrates Christmas, I thank you but there are other holidays this time of year too hence Happy Holidays. The constant whining about this really puts a damper on an otherwise joyful time of year.

Just like that Evangelical preacher Professional Bullshit Artist who attacked Starbucks for their cup design last year and encouraged his supporters gullible idiots to make everyone’s life at Starbucks a living hell. Because the cups fucking didn’t say Merry Christmas.

That mind-numbing bullshit made me frown on saying Merry Christmas voluntarily. I’ll interchange it with Happy Holidays, but who really cares.

84
Belafon  Dec 6, 2016 • 8:58:48pm

I had to write to the local Fox station here in Dallas. They used the “white nationalist/alt-right” description for Spencer. I wrote to tell them to stop using it, that it stands for white supremacy and Nazism.

85
HappyWarrior  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:02:20pm

re: #83 Myron Falwell (no relation)

Just like that Evangelical preacher Professional Bullshit Artist who attacked Starbucks for their cup design last year and encouraged his supporters gullible idiots to make everyone’s life at Starbucks a living hell. Because the cups fucking didn’t say Merry Christmas.

That mind-numbing bullshit made me frown on saying Merry Christmas voluntarily. I’ll interchange it with Happy Holidays, but who really cares.

The cup stuff was so stupid even for wingnuts. Really bitching about something you’re going to throw in the trash fifteen minutes later anyhow? What a privileged life you must live if that’s what bothers you during the holiday season.

86
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:02:21pm

re: #84 Belafon

I had to write to the local Fox station here in Dallas. They used the “white nationalist/alt-right” description for Spencer. I wrote to tell them to stop using it, that it stands for white supremacy and Nazism.

Fox owns Fox 4 directly. Their O&O station group chief - Jack Abernathy - is the new co-president at Fox News.

It is completely in line with the parent network.

87
HappyWarrior  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:05:19pm

re: #81 Unshaken Defiance

Who was ever offended by a misplaced pleasant greeting? Short of channeling a porcupine personality, why be upset? So then why worry about saying Merry Christmas in stead of Happy Holidays outside of a Mosque, Jewish Temple or House Of Flying Spaghetti Monster (aka take out pizza) ? If someone puffs up and says “I’m atheist I don’t believe in magic Jesus” I’ll just wish them a great weekend, what with Christmas falling on Saturday.

Right, the greeting is meant to be polite. And ya know there is a big holiday one week after Christmas. Bing Crosby was singing Happy Holiday. The Pilgrims didn’t even believe in celebrating Christmas.

88
Stanley Sea  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:08:38pm

Seriously, every thing I’m reading is enough. Enough.

89
wheat-dogg  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:10:02pm

re: #87 HappyWarrior

Right, the greeting is meant to be polite. And ya know there is a big holiday one week after Christmas. Bing Crosby was singing Happy Holiday. The Pilgrims didn’t even believe in celebrating Christmas.

It’s all about fostering a false sense of persecution. Goes along with those “religious freedom” bills intended to allow “religious” people to violate civil rights/equal treatment laws, and the incessant whinging about Obama being anti-Christian because the federal government chooses to take the Constitution seriously.

It’s about a tiny minority of people acting as if they are a huge majority and can tell the rest of us what to do.

90
retired cynic  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:10:29pm

re: #88 Stanley Sea

If it wasn’t for wanting to stretch out the time before DT becomes, shudder, President. GAH! I’d be wishing it was January 3rd already.

91
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:11:20pm

re: #81 Unshaken Defiance

Who was ever offended by a misplaced pleasant greeting? Short of channeling a porcupine personality, why be upset? So then why worry about saying Merry Christmas in stead of Happy Holidays outside of a Mosque, Jewish Temple or House Of Flying Spaghetti Monster (aka take out pizza) ? If someone puffs up and says “I’m atheist I don’t believe in magic Jesus” I’ll just wish them a great weekend, what with Christmas falling on Saturday.

The only holiday I now will not acknowledge is Thanksgiving. The sheer disingenuousness of the holiday, coupled with the obvious white supremacism, make me uncomfortable.

But even then, I would still accept the greeting.

92
stpaulbear  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:11:29pm

re: #75 BeachDem

I think I hate ‘have a blessed day’ more than any of the others. I always want to reply ‘yeah, fuck that shit’ or just a simple ‘what ever’ whenever someone pulls that one out. I always want to let them know that it’s greatly unappreciated.

93
Belafon  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:11:30pm

I just caught a little bit of Joe Biden on Colbert. He was basically saying that we need to make sure to keep the focus on what Trump’s proposing and away from how he acts.

94
BeachDem  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:11:36pm

re: #81 Unshaken Defiance

Who was ever offended by a misplaced pleasant greeting? Short of channeling a porcupine personality, why be upset? So then why worry about saying Merry Christmas in stead of Happy Holidays outside of a Mosque, Jewish Temple or House Of Flying Spaghetti Monster (aka take out pizza) ? If someone puffs up and says “I’m atheist I don’t believe in magic Jesus” I’ll just wish them a great weekend, what with Christmas falling on Saturday.

My sister and I were talking over Thanksgiving about all the religious crap in our public schools when we were kids. She was telling me that her teacher in grade school chose her to be Mary in a Christmas pageant, and that the teacher called our mother to make sure it was OK (hey, Mary was Jewish, so it was probably more authentic./)

At the time, we sang serious Christmas songs in school—not just Jingle Bells, but Silent Night and Hark the Herald Angels, etc. It didn’t make much of an impression on me, but it did seem kind of weird to get all that crap in school, then go home and light the Menorah.

I don’t think it belongs in schools; I don’t think the Ten Commandments belong in courthouses (hell, I don’t think Under God belongs in the Pledge of Allegiance), but I don’ give a crap what holiday somebody mentions when they’re wishing me well.

95
Belafon  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:12:43pm

re: #86 Myron Falwell (no relation)

Fox owns Fox 4 directly. Their O&O station group chief - Jack Abernathy - is the new co-president at Fox News.

It is completely in line with the parent network.

I know about the ownership. But we have to challenge it when we see it.

96
HappyWarrior  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:15:08pm

re: #91 Myron Falwell (no relation)

The only holiday I now will not acknowledge is Thanksgiving. The sheer disingenuousness of the holiday, coupled with the obvious white supremacism, make me uncomfortable.

I feel the same about Columbus Day. I choose instead to use it to remember the many tribes that called this land home for generations. I don’t have a problem with Thanksgiving even if the Pilgrim-Native American story is over romanticized.

97
BeachDem  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:16:03pm

re: #92 stpaulbear

I think I hate ‘have a blessed day’ more than any of the others. I always want to reply ‘yeah, fuck that shit’ or just a simple ‘what ever’ whenever someone pulls that one out. I always want to let them know that it’s greatly unappreciated.

I think that, but mainly roll my eyes as I walk away. Never heard it at retail establishments until I moved south. Think it’s inappropriate, but overall harmless.

Also, never saw professional websites (doctors, dentists etc) that mentioned the church affiliation of the practitioner either.

98
austin_blue  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:18:57pm

re: #92 stpaulbear

I think I hate ‘have a blessed day’ more than any of the others. I always want to reply ‘yeah, fuck that shit’ or just a simple ‘what ever’ whenever someone pulls that one out. I always want to let them know that it’s greatly unappreciated.

The irony is that “blessed be” is standard Wiccan. Just repeat that to them with a smile.

You’ll have punched them in the mouth and left ‘em smiling.

“What a nice man!”

99
stpaulbear  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:20:25pm

OMG Obama tells the troops to resist Trump!!

(Starting at about 38:30)

President Obama Final Speech To US Military: MacDill AFB, Tampa Florida

100
BeachDem  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:21:12pm

re: #98 austin_blue

The irony is that “blessed be” is standard Wiccan. Just repeat that to them with a smile.

You’ll have punched them in the mouth and left ‘em smiling.

“What a nice man!”

I like it—and at least the Wiccans pronounce it bless-ed. Down here, it’s have a blest day.

101
GlutenFreeJesus  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:23:47pm

Joe Biden just finished up on Colbert. I got choked up when he was talking about Beau.

I got a sense that he regrets not running for President. But in no way do I blame him for not.

102
teleskiguy  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:28:15pm
103
HappyWarrior  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:29:18pm

re: #101 GlutenFreeJesus

Joe Biden just finished up on Colbert. I got choked up when he was talking about Beau.

I got a sense that he regrets not running for President. But in no way do I blame him for not.

I don’t judge him either way. I think he deserves a happy retirement with Jill and his family. The guy is one of the best public servants ever but he’s an even greater person.

104
bratwurst  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:37:15pm
105
teleskiguy  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:38:48pm

re: #104 bratwurst

Meanwhile the Northwest Passage is still navigable.

106
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:39:25pm

re: #104 bratwurst
LOL Drudge had to cite the Daily Fail.

107
ckkatz  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:44:22pm

re: #36 teleskiguy

re: #36 teleskiguy

I would add as a caveat that if you’ve never been armed but are thinking about it, it’s not about just having the weapons and ammunition, it’s more important that you know how to use them and maintain them, and that requires practice practice practice. Take a hunter’s safety course or if you want to carry pistols a conceal-carry course. And use the weapons at a range, and clean them, etc.

I agree that it is very important to understand how to use and maintain them.

I would strongly urge that all owners understand why and when they would use them. That they look very carefully at the law. And much more importantly that they look at themselves and the philosophical and moral reasons that they would use a firearm. And when they would _not_ use one. Believe it or not, the military spends a good bit of time on this. Deciding in the middle of some incident may be way too late.

108
whitebeach  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:50:17pm

re: #92 stpaulbear

I think I hate ‘have a blessed day’ more than any of the others. I always want to reply ‘yeah, fuck that shit’ or just a simple ‘what ever’ whenever someone pulls that one out. I always want to let them know that it’s greatly unappreciated.

The thing is, they really mean well by it, at least as far as I can tell. It’s the presumption that we’re on the same page that bothers me. I’d like to answer with “Mangalam” (a Buddhist wish for more or less the same thing) or maybe even “Insh’allah” (Arabic meaning roughly “If God wills it”), but the effort would be wasted. These folk don’t really hear anything different from what they hear at church and Bible study, and if they do happen to hear such a thing, it’s from the devil.

109
William Lewis  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:53:24pm

When looking at the law regarding self defense, also remember that every state has very different laws. A legal shoot in Texas can get life without parole in Wisconsin.

Presume that every pull of the trigger, even if you’re 100% justified, will cost you a minimum of $10,000 in legal fees.

110
William Lewis  Dec 6, 2016 • 9:57:41pm

re: #108 whitebeach

The thing is, they really mean well by it, at least as far as I can tell. It’s the presumption that we’re on the same page that bothers me. I’d like to answer with “Mangalam” (a Buddhist wish for more or less the same thing) or maybe even “Insh’allah” (Arabic meaning roughly “If God wills it”), but the effort would be wasted. These folk don’t really hear anything different from what they hear at church and Bible study, and if they do happen to hear such a thing, it’s from the devil.

I am reminded that the contraction “Good Bye” was from Harvard students in the 1600s who were too lazy to say “God be with you” & “And with thy spirit “. PO’d their elders but as always in English, expediency won out in the long run.

111
VegasGolfer  Dec 6, 2016 • 10:01:01pm

Oil spill 200 miles from Cannon Ball, Nd.

112
Alyosha  Dec 6, 2016 • 10:04:30pm

I’m a bit behind…

them crooked vultures Bandoliers

113
whitebeach  Dec 6, 2016 • 10:06:12pm

re: #110 William Lewis

I am reminded that the contraction “Good Bye” was from Harvard students in the 1600s who were too lazy to say “God be with you” & “And with thy spirit “. PO’d their elders but as always in English, expediency won out in the long run.

You’re right about the etymology but wrong about the point of origin, since the word was in written and regular use in English some fifty years before Harvard was founded, and also long before there were English colonies in America.

114
Sherlock Hound  Dec 6, 2016 • 10:08:45pm

Read this thread. In the month since Black Tuesday, not a single non-disabled person has spoken out for me or my friends and colleagues.

115
William Lewis  Dec 6, 2016 • 10:12:55pm

re: #113 whitebeach

Interesting. Do you remember when it originated? That’s the only version I’d heard si I’d prefer to get it right next time :)

116
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 6, 2016 • 10:24:47pm
117
whitebeach  Dec 6, 2016 • 10:26:53pm

re: #115 William Lewis

Interesting. Do you remember when it originated? That’s the only version I’d heard si I’d prefer to get it right next time :)

The sources I’ve seen, including the OED, seem to place it in the late 1500s, c. 1580-90.

118
allegro  Dec 6, 2016 • 10:29:35pm

Though the story of Thanksgiving is a whitewash (literally), at least it’s an inclusive, loving one of putting aside differences, sharing a day of peace. That’s a message I can get behind.

119
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 6, 2016 • 10:33:27pm

re: #118 allegro

Though the story of Thanksgiving is a whitewash (literally), at least it’s an inclusive, loving one of putting aside differences, sharing a day of peace. That’s a message I can get behind.

And the many worthwhile charity events, to be sure. I just can’t say “Thanksgiving” in good conscience.

120
teleskiguy  Dec 6, 2016 • 10:45:52pm

I think this ranks in my top five best tweets ever.

121
teleskiguy  Dec 6, 2016 • 10:50:43pm

At least I can be assured of one thing, the elected sheriff of my county is a bigger man than Donald Trump.

122
Cheechako  Dec 6, 2016 • 11:34:11pm

Winter has finally arrived in the SE Alaska Panhandle. Snow began this afternoon and the prediction is 10-15 inches by tomorrow night. Temps will remain around 20*.

So far this winter we’ve been coasting. A lot of rain and temps in the high 30’s for most of the fall.

Teleskiguy - should be enough snow to get the local ski area (Eaglecrest) open. Come on up!!

123
teleskiguy  Dec 6, 2016 • 11:35:15pm

National Review is actively nuzzling up with Nazis.

124
teleskiguy  Dec 6, 2016 • 11:37:59pm

re: #123 teleskiguy

125
Alyosha  Dec 6, 2016 • 11:43:13pm

re: #123 teleskiguy

Not gonna read the article but I reckon that it’s the latest iteration of the smug ‘intellectual right’s’ argument that the very existence of liberals and their pesky desire for social justice and inclusiveness is foremost to blame for the resurgence of the extremists who have entirely consumed their beloved Republican Party.
Anything to avoid conservative introspection.

126
Sherlock Hound  Dec 6, 2016 • 11:55:56pm

re: #125 Alyosha

Jon Keller (of WBZ) actually said this out loud: Trump supporters are that way because they’re taxed too much.

127
dell*nix  Dec 7, 2016 • 12:09:48am

re: #126 Sherlock Hound

They are ignorant because preachers and polatitans have a vested interest in keeping the public ignorant.

128
teleskiguy  Dec 7, 2016 • 12:14:33am

re: #125 Alyosha

Oh yeah. So sayeth my good friend in Australia!

The close-minded attitude among those who voted for Trump is scary.

129
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 12:17:42am

re: #65 Backwoods_Sleuth

Eric Geller:
really glad that i, a jew, can now say merry christmas, which is all i’ve ever wanted

Just accept Jesus in your heart and you will be “perfected”.

Or else…

130
Alyosha  Dec 7, 2016 • 12:19:21am

re: #128 teleskiguy

Oh yeah. So sayeth my good friend in Australia!

The close-minded attitude among those who voted for Trump is scary.

:) don’t worry, we have them down here too.
It is, as Trump is fond of saying, a phenomenon. It might be hard to eradicate but it can be grasped.

131
Alyosha  Dec 7, 2016 • 12:21:41am

re: #130 Alyosha

:) don’t worry, we have them down here too.
It is, as Trump is fond of saying, a phenomenon. It might be hard to eradicate but it can be grasped.

WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT ‘DON’T WORRY’?!
Every day I worry.

132
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 12:22:57am

re: #125 Alyosha

Not gonna read the article but I reckon that it’s the latest iteration of the smug ‘intellectual right’s’ argument that the very existence of liberals and their pesky desire for social justice and inclusiveness is foremost to blame for the resurgence of the extremists who have entirely consumed their beloved Republican Party.
Anything to avoid conservative introspection.

I have a old gay college buddy (he only came out after we graduated) who is a seriously conservative gadfly and enjoys nothing more than getting a rise out of people. And he is a big fan of Milo, because that fellow has perfected the art to the point that he does it professionally.

133
Alyosha  Dec 7, 2016 • 12:43:54am

re: #132 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

I have a old gay college buddy (he only came out after we graduated) who is a seriously conservative gadfly and enjoys nothing more than getting a rise out of people. And he is a big fan of Milo, because that fellow has perfected the art to the point that he does it professionally.

‘I will gladly support a party who wishes and promises me nothing but pain, pestilence and penury just to see the look on your damned, bleeding-heart liberal faces.’

It’s the battered hope of a self-described ‘funny guy’ who never had the chops to make it in comedy. If I can’t make you laugh, your tears will do nicely.

134
Anymouse  Dec 7, 2016 • 1:06:35am

re: #122 Cheechako

Winter has finally arrived in the SE Alaska Panhandle. Snow began this afternoon and the prediction is 10-15 inches by tomorrow night. Temps will remain around 20*.

So far this winter we’ve been coasting. A lot of rain and temps in the high 30’s for most of the fall.

Teleskiguy - should be enough snow to get the local ski area (Eaglecrest) open. Come on up!!

Well, you beat us on the snow by about six hours, but the Alaska Panhandle is way warmer than the Nebraska Panhandle.

I don’t do ski, but my wife and I are considering a drive to Yukon in the summer. If we get up that way, she’s thinking about heading to Alaska as well.

Can we drop in and say hi? The Smart has been broken in on ferry boats (this summer on Lake Huron), I’m pretty sure it can handle the ferry from British Columbia.

135
Alyosha  Dec 7, 2016 • 1:23:59am
136
Anymouse  Dec 7, 2016 • 1:26:42am

re: #99 stpaulbear

OMG Obama tells the troops to resist Trump!!

(Starting at about 38:30, video deleted for space)

I was not in the Navy any time during President Obama’s Administration, but I would have been damn proud to have him as my civilian Commander-in-Chief. President Obama is thoughtful and knowledgeable, and listens and weighs his advisers opinions before daring to commit the Armed Forces to harm’s way.

President Obama is the sort of person whose orders I would have followed to hell and back.

Moreover, Vice-President Biden is equally committed to the rule of law and deep concern for committing military lives in the cause of the nation. I would have been just as confident knowing that the Vice-President was Mr. Obama’s backup in case the worst occurred to the Commander-in-Chief.

There is a reason the framers of the Constitution put a civilian in the highest position of military command, and it is because the military is constantly indoctrinated in the need for civilian control the nation has never suffered a military coup.

Mr. Obama’s speech brings forth the meaning of that enlistment oath:

“I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.” [last line optional] (Title 10, US Code; Act of 5 May 1960 replacing the wording first adopted in 1789, with amendment effective 5 October 1962).

Moreover, the officer’s oath upon accepting a commission is different, because officers are appointed by the civilian government.

The difference is here:

… that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; … .

Without any mental reservation. Enlisted personnel can be drafted; officers are always appointed by the civilian government.

Moreover, my oath of office as a village trustee as set forth in my state constitution. It’s a bit longer:

I, …………………., do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Nebraska, against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely and without mental reservation or for purpose of evasion; and that I will faithfully and impartially perform the duties of the office of ……………………, according to law, and to the best of my ability. And I do further swear that I do not advocate, nor am I a member of any political party or organization that advocates the overthrow of the government of the United States or of this state by force or violence; and that during such time as I am in this position I will not advocate nor become a member of any political party or organization that advocates the overthrow of the government of the United States or of this state by force or violence. So help me God.

None of those oaths require you to affirm or swear to uphold a person. They require you to uphold the Constitution. That is the ideal for which you lay down your life, not a demagogue in a cheap suit (or an expensive suit that looks like a cheap suit.)

And those oaths and their ideals are inculcated practically daily in the military: You serve the Constitution, not a civilian master. Not a military master. My political oath is the same (with the added bit about not advocating the overthrow of the government).

I have spent almost my entire adult life under one of those oaths, and I take them seriously. Even when I wasn’t in the military or Nebraska government, I still took them seriously.

It is the Constitution I serve, not the Commander-in-Chief, not the state governor, and not the Donflict of Interest elect.

Nice shade from the President. Didn’t even mention Cheeto Mussolini’s name. And he was cheered at McDill AFB.

137
Lupin  Dec 7, 2016 • 2:35:44am

re: #136 Anymouse

It is the Constitution I serve, not the Commander-in-Chief, not the state governor, and not the Donflict of Interest elect.

I’d be tempted to say that the founding fathers believed that the American citizenry would be able to handle free speech, guns and democracy.

That was true, for a while.

In 2016, we’ve proven them wrong.

138
William Lewis  Dec 7, 2016 • 2:46:16am

re: #137 Lupin

I’d be tempted to say that the founding fathers believed that the American citizenry would be able to handle free speech, guns and democracy.

That was true, for a while.

In 2016, we’ve proven them wrong.

It was always an experiment from day one. Look at the electons of 1800 or 1828 or 1876 for example for reasons to not believe it would work.

We’ve never taken education seriously enough and the lack of an electorate capable of critical thinking will be the end of the experiment.

139
Anymouse  Dec 7, 2016 • 3:08:28am

Well, I flogged my new appointment as chairman pro-tempore of my village board over at Daily Kos (someone’s gotta do it, might as well be me).

dailykos.com

140
wheat-dogg  Dec 7, 2016 • 3:30:58am

re: #138 William Lewis

It was always an experiment from day one. Look at the electons of 1800 or 1828 or 1876 for example for reasons to not believe it would work.

We’ve never taken education seriously enough and the lack of an electorate capable of critical thinking will be the end of the experiment.

Thomas Jefferson, at least, understood that a democracy’s success and future depends on a well educated citizenry. Several quotations at the link:
famguardian.org

This is, however, a spurious quotation: “An educated citizenry is a vital requisite for our survival as a free people.” The TJ Foundation says the quote is not found in any of Jefferson’s writings, but it does express his feelings on education.

It’s also worth reminding people that the Land Ordinance of 1785 specifically set aside one section of each township in the “western states” for a public school, two sections for a university, and one section (separate from the others) for a religious purpose. The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 also included this clause:

Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.

People like Betsy DeVos need to be reminded that a public education was an expectation, if not a requirement, of the nation’s founders. It may not be enshrined in the Constitution as a right, but it is a tradition and a necessity.

141
Anymouse  Dec 7, 2016 • 3:33:16am

Well, I have to get to bed. It’s very late (early).

I ran my oven up to five hundred degrees to warm my kitchen; I am trying to fight off freezing my kitchen and bathroom pipes. (I have a centre-floor furnace installed in 1936 in my home that does not prevent my kitchen from freezing.)

Little rural issues like this sometimes get overlooked by national politicians. One issue both Democrats and Greens flog is the elimination of high-wattage incandescent light bulbs (over 60w is the usual figure).

To a rural voter, such an issue is a direct threat to life and business. High-wattage lights are more efficient for things such as baby chick incubators. I use a three hundred watt light in my cyclone cellar to keep my kitchen pipes warm so my pipes don’t freeze.

If such things as high-wattage lights are banned, then we in rural areas are screwed. There are an awful lot of liberals who don’t understand that.

Moreover, if such lights were banned except in rural areas, then businesses that make those lights would simply stop making them.

I don’t know the answer to this (heat tape around pipes is actually a fire hazard), but ignoring the need of rural Americans is indeed a part of the problem here. As much as racism or fascism might motivate conservative voters, little things like this stick out.

When you tell (by legislation) a rural voter “suck it up, buttercup, I don’t care about your dying baby chickens or your freezing water pipes” you are telling that voter you don’t care about his or her problems.

There really is an urban/rural divide, and it is much more than race. Something as what someone might consider a light bulb is a big deal here, and voters remember who it is who doesn’t care if their pipes freeze or their baby chicks die. They will vote accordingly.

There are rural problems that need to be addressed beyond racism. A person cannot claim to represent all Americans whilst ignoring the real problems of a good portion of the country, even little problems like freezing pipes and chicks.

G’night, y’all.

142
wheat-dogg  Dec 7, 2016 • 3:40:29am

re: #141 Anymouse

I ran my oven up to five hundred degrees to warm my kitchen; I am trying to fight off freezing my kitchen and bathroom pipes. (I have a centre-floor furnace installed in 1936 in my home that does not prevent my kitchen from freezing.)

I once owned a house with a center-floor furnace. It was Craftsman-style home probably dating from the same time period. The furnace did a poor job of keeping the far rooms warm, especially in an uninsulated home. When we decided to upgrade to a forced-air furnace, we also had to upgrade the household wiring from 40-amp service to 100-amp service. Fun times.

143
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 3:55:49am

re: #133 Alyosha

‘I will gladly support a party who wishes and promises me nothing but pain, pestilence and penury just to see the look on your damned, bleeding-heart liberal faces.’

It’s the battered hope of a self-described ‘funny guy’ who never had the chops to make it in comedy. If I can’t make you laugh, your tears will do nicely.

He was raised by left-wing radical college professors, some of this is his way of being rebellious.

But yeah, this is a fellow who just married his gay partner supporting a party that would like to see him put into shock therapy and have his marriage annulled.

144
wheat-dogg  Dec 7, 2016 • 3:56:53am

Trump has apparently picked the governor of Iowa, Terry Branstad, to be the ambassador to China. China, for its part, seems pleased with the choice.

reuters.com

145
wheat-dogg  Dec 7, 2016 • 4:17:33am

We’ve discussed here the export of US oil abroad, in relation to the Republican hype about the Keystone pipeline. Here’s a story which makes those exports very clear: BP is transshipping 3 billion bbl of US crude to Asia.

reuters.com

IOW, the USA does not need the oil from Keystone pipeline. It already has more than it needs now.

146
Lupin  Dec 7, 2016 • 4:22:20am

re: #138 William Lewis

It was always an experiment from day one. Look at the electons of 1800 or 1828 or 1876 for example for reasons to not believe it would work.

We’ve never taken education seriously enough and the lack of an electorate capable of critical thinking will be the end of the experiment.

I couldn’t agree more. I think at this point we’re becoming a danger to ourselves as well as to others — like am old person with dementia. We can’t seem to run an election properly, are unable to tell blatant lies without being lectured by an adult, and handle guns with the a propos of a six-year-old.

147
wheat-dogg  Dec 7, 2016 • 4:29:44am

China has asked the US to prevent Taiwan’s president from transiting in the States on her way to Central America in January. Obama will still be office.

channelnewsasia.com

148
wheat-dogg  Dec 7, 2016 • 4:45:56am

Cassini has made its first foray through Saturn’s F-ring, one of several “ring dives” as it nears the end of its mission.

yahoo.com

149
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 4:48:05am

re: #148 wheat-dogg

Cassini has made its first foray through Saturn’s F-ring, one of several “ring dives” as it nears the end of its mission.

yahoo.com

“Dive through my F-ring!” she cried. A true story…

150
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 4:54:23am
151
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 4:56:48am

re: #150 The Vicious Babushka

Fun Fact: Previous winners of Time’s person of the year award include Stalin and Hitler

two misunderstood leaders in need of rehabilitation…

152
Barefoot Grin  Dec 7, 2016 • 4:57:26am

re: #149 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

“Dive through my F-ring!” she cried. A true story…

“Relax, buddy, you’re gonna blow out your O-ring….”

Austin Powers bathroom

153
wheat-dogg  Dec 7, 2016 • 5:08:22am

re: #149 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

“Dive through my F-ring!” she cried. A true story…

At around 6,000 mph. Yee-ouch! Talk about fast women!

154
Colère Tueur de Lapin  Dec 7, 2016 • 5:08:27am

re: #151 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

two misunderstood leaders in need of rehabilitation…

Time’s man of the year is a reflection of who was influential and had impact, not necessarily positive.

155
lawhawk  Dec 7, 2016 • 5:08:45am

Greets and saluts from the NYC metro area. Today is Pearl Harbor Day - a day that will live in infamy - 75 years later and it still influences the world as we know it.

Time decided that today was the day they announced their person of the year. It went predictably:

156
wheat-dogg  Dec 7, 2016 • 5:16:38am

BBC presenter Katty Kay offers a very naive, and factually challenged summary of the Trump “chaos theory.”

bbc.com

She neglects to note, for example, that the reason AF One is more expensive than Trump’s golden airplane is all the extra equipment needed to make the president’s plane a flying national headquarters for the chief executive. She glosses over the incorrect figures Trump offered for the cost of Air Force One, too.

Not impressed. Yet another example of the media trying to normalize Trump.

157
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 5:37:59am

re: #156 wheat-dogg

BBC presenter Katty Kay offers a very naive, and factually challenged summary of the Trump “chaos theory.”

bbc.com

She neglects to note, for example, that the reason AF One is more expensive than Trump’s golden airplane is all the extra equipment needed to make the president’s plan a flying national headquarters for the chief executive. She glosses over the incorrect figures Trump offered for the cost of Air Force One, too.

Not impressed. Yet another example of the media trying to normalize Trump.

The Alternate Media Reality and the Dawn of the Age of the Great American Idiocracy

158
lawhawk  Dec 7, 2016 • 5:38:13am
159
Colère Tueur de Lapin  Dec 7, 2016 • 5:41:06am

re: #158 lawhawk

It is most definitely not an issue of positive attention. But, all tRump cares about is attention. And, he’ll spin it and the rubes will lap it up like the excrement that it is.

160
Belafon  Dec 7, 2016 • 5:41:53am
161
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 5:45:10am

re: #160 Belafon

Nixon 1960: 49.55%
Gore 2000: 48.38%
Kerry 2004: 48.26%
Ford 1976: 48.01%
Romney 2012: 47.15%
Trump 2016: 46.17%

I look at that those results rather critically and then remember that the Electoral College also gave us Abraham Lincoln in 1860 with only 39.8% of the vote.

162
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 5:50:57am

re: #161 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

I look at that those results rather critically and then remember that the Electoral College also gave us Abraham Lincoln in 1860 with only 39.8% of the vote.

That was split 4 ways, tho’

163
jeffreyw  Dec 7, 2016 • 5:51:06am

Imgur


Good morning!

164
Belafon  Dec 7, 2016 • 5:51:12am

re: #161 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

I look at that those results rather critically and then remember that the Electoral College also gave us Abraham Lincoln in 1860 with only 39.8% of the vote.

Just use those numbers when you call Trump a loser.

165
HappyWarrior  Dec 7, 2016 • 5:51:31am

re: #162 The Vicious Babushka

That was split 4 ways, tho’

He also wasn’t on the ballot in every state.

166
Joe Bacon  Dec 7, 2016 • 5:54:12am

re: #163 jeffreyw

[Embedded content]

Good morning!

I love that picture, but just looking at it has me grabbing the insulin for a shot…

167
darthstar  Dec 7, 2016 • 5:54:29am

168
darthstar  Dec 7, 2016 • 5:54:54am

Mornin’ everyone.

169
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 5:59:01am

CMIIW but one of the very earliest episodes of “South Park” contained this very scene:

170
lawhawk  Dec 7, 2016 • 5:59:48am
171
Dave In Austin  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:00:57am

re: #167 darthstar

By all means.

172
darthstar  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:04:48am

re: #171 Dave In Austin

By all means.

And he’s got good hair…no combover.

173
darthstar  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:06:03am

re: #169 The Vicious Babushka

CMIIW but one of the very earliest episodes of “South Park” contained this very scene:

[Embedded content]

The best episode of South Park.

174
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:06:57am

re: #173 darthstar

The best episode of South Park.

The Best Episode of South Park is “Woodland Christmas” that is all.

175
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:08:27am
176
darthstar  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:10:38am
177
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:12:54am

re: #169 The Vicious Babushka

CMIIW but one of the very earliest episodes of “South Park” contained this very scene:

Is that not the bit that caused Isaac Hayes to quit his role as Chef McElroy?

178
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:15:16am

re: #177 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Is that not the bit that caused Isaac Hayes to quit his role as Chef McElroy?

He quit over the episode that mocked Scientology.

179
Bubblehead II  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:15:28am

Morning Lizards.

180
darthstar  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:18:17am
181
HappyWarrior  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:19:01am

In fact, it was something Parker and Stone did pre South Park. It was later an episode though. The people who cry “Why don’t they make fun of Muhammad” don’t get it. There are much more people who celebrate Christmas in our culture than are Muslims. It’s not about political correctness, it’s how humor operates.

182
HappyWarrior  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:20:07am

re: #178 The Vicious Babushka

He quit over the episode that mocked Scientology.

The Tom Cruise episode I believe which I think showed how hypocritical he was. He was fine when SP mocked other groups but when his own religion got mocked, he decided it was too far. Those who want a free license to mock Muslims are curiously enough the same way when it comes to Christianity.

183
Emptor scriptor Remorse  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:21:02am

re: #181 HappyWarrior

Exactly, people lose theirs heads over this stuff.

184
HappyWarrior  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:21:20am

Humor at its base is making fun of something you know. Twain did it with American society of the Victorian era. It wouldn’t have made sense for Twain to mock the Ottoman Empire.

185
darthstar  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:22:55am

re: #181 HappyWarrior

In fact, it was something Parker and Stone did pre South Park. It was later an episode though. The people who cry “Why don’t they make fun of Muhammad” don’t get it. There are much more people who celebrate Christmas in our culture than are Muslims. It’s not about political correctness, it’s how humor operates.

Every joke needs a victim. Evangelical Christians make great victims because they’re so insecure about their faith that they see any criticism, mockery, or doubt as a sign of impending doom…like their whole castle is built on a foundation of cards.

186
Colère Tueur de Lapin  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:23:49am

re: #181 HappyWarrior

It’s not about political correctness, it’s how humor operates.

But, as we all know, conservative “humour” is all about denigration of the target. Therefore, it makes sense in their ‘minds’ to seek to denigrate followers of Islam and not understand the humor in the basic dichotomy of the jebus vs. Santa game.

187
darthstar  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:23:53am

re: #184 HappyWarrior

Humor at its base is making fun of something you know. Twain did it with American society of the Victorian era. It wouldn’t have made sense for Twain to mock the Ottoman Empire.

Leave the Ottomans out of this or there’s going to be trouble.

188
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:24:10am

re: #185 darthstar

Every joke needs a victim. Evangelical Christians make great victims because they’re so insecure about their faith that they see any criticism, mockery, or doubt as a sign of impending doom…like their whole castle is built on a foundation of cards.

Because they are so rock-solid sure of their faith that they take it as a mockery of God and Jesus himself.

189
Emptor scriptor Remorse  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:24:29am

re: #187 darthstar

They made great sofas.

190
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:24:39am

re: #187 darthstar

Leave the Ottomans out of this or there’s going to be trouble.

Really. Where else can you rest your feet as comfortably?

191
HappyWarrior  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:25:03am

re: #186 Colère Tueur de Lapin

But, as we all know, conservative “humour” is all about denigration of the target. Therefore, it makes sense in their ‘minds’ to seek to denigrate followers of Islam and not understand the humor in the basic dichotomy of the jebus vs. Santa game.

That’s very true too.

192
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:25:05am

re: #189 Emptor scriptor Remorse

They made great sofas.

beat me by ten seconds…

193
darthstar  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:25:45am

re: #186 Colère Tueur de Lapin

But, as we all know, conservative “humour” is all about denigration of the target. Therefore, it makes sense in their ‘minds’ to seek to denigrate followers of Islam and not understand the humor in the basic dichotomy of the jebus vs. Santa game.

Another good point. That’s why there’s no conservative ‘Daily Show’…being mean isn’t a big seller.

194
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:27:28am

re: #193 darthstar

Another good point. That’s why there’s no conservative ‘Daily Show’…being mean isn’t a big seller.

The alt-right bros are all like HOW COME MEL BROOKS GETS TO MAKE HOLOCAUST JOKES BUT WE CANT!!!11!! HURR HURR

195
Colère Tueur de Lapin  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:30:10am

Hitler on Ice.

196
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:31:47am

re: #195 Colère Tueur de Lapin

Hitler on Ice.

Some Ukrainian figure skaters actually did a “Holocaust on Ice” routine.

197
darthstar  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:32:13am

re: #190 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Really. Where else can you rest your feet as comfortably?

Good point…and you almost never see a Sultan on the cover of Time.

198
darthstar  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:33:28am

re: #195 Colère Tueur de Lapin

Hitler on Ice.

Nobody portrayed Hitler as well as Mel Brooks.

199
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:33:39am

re: #197 darthstar

Good point…and you almost never see a Sultan on the cover of Time.

[Embedded content]

The Sultan of Swat

200
Colère Tueur de Lapin  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:34:19am

re: #196 The Vicious Babushka

Some things I am better off not knowing about…

201
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:35:37am
202
HappyWarrior  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:37:06am

re: #193 darthstar

Another good point. That’s why there’s no conservative ‘Daily Show’…being mean isn’t a big seller.

FNC tried and it was painful to watch. Conservatives just aren’t good at comedy by and large since conservative “humor” is all about being a dick. Limbaugh is touted as a satirist but he’s actually just a prick who makes fun of people not like him.

203
HappyWarrior  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:37:54am

re: #194 The Vicious Babushka

The alt-right bros are all like HOW COME MEL BROOKS GETS TO MAKE HOLOCAUST JOKES BUT WE CANT!!!11!! HURR HURR

Mel Brooks for one is actually funny.

204
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:38:51am

re: #203 HappyWarrior

Mel Brooks for one is actually funny.

Mel Brooks makes fun of the nazis. Alt-right bros make fun of the victims.

205
HappyWarrior  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:41:28am

re: #204 The Vicious Babushka

Mel Brooks makes fun of the nazis. Alt-right bros make fun of the victims.

Exactly. I need to watch the original Producers again. Such a brilliant comedy still nearly a half century later.

206
Belafon  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:42:21am

re: #161 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

I look at that those results rather critically and then remember that the Electoral College also gave us Abraham Lincoln in 1860 with only 39.8% of the vote.

I believe he still had a plurality in the popular vote as well.

207
HappyWarrior  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:43:00am

re: #206 Belafon

I believe he still had a plurality in the popular vote as well.

He did. Lincoln-Douglass-Breckinridge-Bell.

208
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:43:03am

re: #205 HappyWarrior

Exactly. I need to watch the original Producers again. Such a brilliant comedy still nearly a half century later.

Not so funny anymore now that it’s become real life America instead of just a Broadway show.

209
Jayleia  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:44:31am

re: #208 The Vicious Babushka

I think its more The Aristocrats than The Producers

210
darthstar  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:51:17am
211
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:52:24am

re: #206 Belafon

I believe he still had a plurality in the popular vote as well.

I was referring to his share of popular votes

212
Franklin  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:58:12am

I’ve had this vision in my head ever since TrumpTieTapeGate. Finally put it to pixel…

213
darthstar  Dec 7, 2016 • 6:59:56am

Again, it would be nice if someone would say “Trump will be asked about xxx today” so I could plan my day trading around it.

214
We're Way Beyond Snark  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:03:15am

re: #141 Anymouse

You’re using “liberal” and “urban” as synonyms here. As to the issue, had you and your representatives maybe considered telling us? I come from a place where it hardly ever freezes — how the hell could I be expected to know ?

215
Franklin  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:03:35am

Had to get it on twitter:

216
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:04:32am

re: #214 We’re Way Beyond Snark

You’re using “liberal” and “urban” as synonyms here. As to the issue, had you and your representatives maybe considered telling us? I come from a place where it hardly ever freezes — how the hell could I be expected to know ?

and there are alternative heating devices to an incandescent bulb…and probably more efficient, just less convenient and readily available.

217
ObserverArt  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:10:29am

re: #25 BeachDem

Spencer is so good at playing wonky millennial it makes you want to vomit. Think of him as an Ezra Klein for people who wouldn’t mind putting people named Ezra Klein on a train…

A person who walks into a congressional office in a white hood asking for a meeting about the Jewish pestilence isn’t likely to get very far, but a clean-cut guy exuding the same white-collar blandness as that annoying guy at work who won’t shut up about his kickball league or Trunk Club membership is another story. That’s what makes Richard Spencer and the National Policy Institute so scary.

huffingtonpost.com

I think I remember reading this same type of “no hood, clean cut in a suit” bullshit about David Duke back in the late 70s.

This shit isn’t new in case anyone is thinking it is. It has just been hiding under rocks and in dark, damp places.

Why does it seem it is new to so many younger folks…TRUMP!

I see he was declared Time “Man of the Year” too. They are going to regret that designation when he sets this country back years. And I think I heard him say something like “I haven’t divided this country…it was divided and I am bringing it back together.” Yeah…he is bringing all the white haters back together and he will try to make sure anyone seen as a divider (Black Lives, Muslims, Mexicans, LBGT, etc., etc.) goes underground or just leaves…one way or the other.

And I say that as a “European and Slavic person. Half German, Half Slovak. You can’t get any more European and Slavic than that and I’d like to slap Richard Spencer in his lovely non-hooded face. Grrrrrrr.

218
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:13:00am

re: #217 ObserverArt

And I say that as a “European and Slavic person. Half German, Half Slovak. You can’t get any more European and Slavic than that and I’d like to slap Richard Spencer in his lovely non-hooded face. Grrrrrrr.

That describes my dad’s side of the family, mom’s side is Croatian with a bit of Hungarian.

But the mainstreaming of this sort of vile racism is only going to get worse and probably result in a string of very unsavory incidents directed against non-white citizens and residents.

219
Colère Tueur de Lapin  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:18:10am

re: #218 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

One of the women that I work with is an orthodox Jew, she has become extremely nervous about the direction and tone of the supporters of our PE. Her comments have basically been “we’ve been there, we’ve seen this before, and nothing good is going to come of it. Passports are ready.” She and I both live in an ultra-liberal section of an ultra-liberal county in MD.

220
Belafon  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:18:16am

re: #218 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

That describes my dad’s side of the family, mom’s side is Croatian with a bit of Hungarian.

But the mainstreaming of this sort of vile racism is only going to get worse and probably result in a string of very unsavory incidents directed against non-white citizens and residents.

The only way to keep it from becoming mainstream is to fight it. What we’re all learning is that we’ve not won. They’re still here. But we have not lost because we are still here.

221
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:21:11am

re: #220 Belafon

The only way to keep it from becoming mainstream is to fight it. What we’re all learning is that we’ve not won. They’re still here. But we have not lost because we are still here.

we have pretty much lost the support of the mainstream media, we really have to find a way to counter the mass ignorance through other channels.

222
We're Way Beyond Snark  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:24:22am

re: #216 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

and there are alternative heating devices to an incandescent bulb…and probably more efficient, just less convenient and readily available.

Convenient and readily available do matter, though. Particularly in the back of beyond, in the absence of readily available internet.

223
We're Way Beyond Snark  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:29:02am

re: #221 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

we have pretty much lost the support of the mainstream media, we really have to find a way to counter the mass ignorance through other channels.

Keep calling them out, don’t support the “bad” ones. For a start.

(Heading to the gym, BBL.)

224
Belafon  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:29:21am

re: #222 We’re Way Beyond Snark

Convenient and readily available do matter, though. Particularly in the back of beyond, in the absence of readily available internet.

Which, I think, is something Democrats should push to fix, in part because the internet makes finding those solutions easy. I can find ways to fix things on my car on youtube; I’m sure a lot of rural people would find that kind of access useful.

225
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:30:25am

re: #219 Colère Tueur de Lapin

One of the women that I work with is an orthodox Jew, she has become extremely nervous about the direction and tone of the supporters of our PE. Her comments have basically been “we’ve been there, we’ve seen this before, and nothing good is going to come of it. Passports are ready.” She and I both live in an ultra-liberal section of an ultra-liberal county in MD.

I have tried to explain to others in my community that Jared and Ivanka DO NOT GIVE A BLUE SHIT about other Jews. Ivanka converted and performs some random rituals BECAUSE JARED’S DAD HAS MORE MONEY THAN HER DAD. Charles Kushner’s criminal history leads me to question exactly how “religious” he really is and he is Jared’s role model.

226
baileylamb  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:30:35am

If the university would not have allowed a radical jihadist,/ISIS recruiting leader to speak, then they should not have a looked this guys.

227
scottslemmons  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:31:22am

re: #12 Shiplord Kirel

I am not given to alarmism or hysteria but I cannot ignore the evidence of my own eyes. Pogroms and vigilante terrorism are coming. The fascist hordes are already armed. They are counting on having a monopoly of weapons. Don’t concede them that monopoly: Arm yourselves and be ready. It is your right and your duty.

I’ve always considered getting a gun, but have finally decided I have to rule it out for myself, no matter how bad things get. If the Stormtrumpers show up at my door, there ain’t anything my little peashooter will do about it. Besides, I’ve got periodic depression (a bit worse while I’m unemployed) and occasional suicidal ideation, so it wouldn’t be smart.

228
Jayleia  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:39:48am

*is curled up in a ball after reading Warcraft general chat*

#Pizzagate…its everywhere…there is NO escape!

229
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:41:20am

re: #227 scottslemmons

I’ve always considered getting a gun, but have finally decided I have to rule it out for myself, no matter how bad things get. If the Stormtrumpers show up at my door, there ain’t anything my line peashooter will do about it. Besides, I’ve got periodic depression (a bit worse while I’m unemployed) and occasional suicidal ideation, so it wouldn’t be smart.

If I lived in Arizona again, I would probably own a .22 pistol loaded with snake shot (basically mini-shotgun shells) to scare off any rattlesnakes I could not get out of the way of quickly enough. But for no other purpose than that.

230
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:41:34am

re: #193 darthstar

Another good point. That’s why there’s no conservative ‘Daily Show’…being mean isn’t a big seller.

Unless you are Rush or Ann Coulter. But thankfully their fanbases are well past retirement age and one foot in the grave…

231
Colère Tueur de Lapin  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:42:33am

re: #228 Jayleia

*is curled up in a ball after reading Warcraft general chat*

NEVER read The Barrons Chat, ever. You know this. Ok, you’re probably not reading that stream, but…

232
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:44:12am

Good news. Josh Mandel has decided that he wants to lose again to Sen. Sherrod Brown in 2018. (Brown steamrolled him in 2012.)

233
scottslemmons  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:51:17am

re: #229 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

If I lived in Arizona again, I would probably own a .22 pistol loaded with snake shot (basically mini-shotgun shells) to scare off any rattlesnakes I could not get out of the way of quickly enough. But for no other purpose than that.

Yah, that’s the only reason I’d own a weapon — if I moved out in the boondocks somewhere. My sister and her husband live in the mountains, and they keep guns, partly to handle bears or cougars that might come sniffing around the doors, and partly because law enforcement is generally 30-60 minutes away.

234
BeachDem  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:52:41am

re: #232 Myron Falwell (no relation)

Good news. Josh Mandel has decided that he wants to lose again to Sen. Sherrod Brown in 2018. (Brown steamrolled him in 2012.)

[Embedded content]

Mandel is truly creepy. Not sure if I find him or Mike DeWine more nausea-inducing; might be an unbreakable tie.

235
Jayleia  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:53:11am

re: #231 Colère Tueur de Lapin

LOL, I knew to avoid Barrens chat for like, five years or more…I just started playing Warcraft a few months ago…Barrens has a reputation FAR beyond Warcraft.

236
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:54:33am

re: #233 scottslemmons

Yah, that’s the only reason I’d own a weapon — if I moved out in the boondocks somewhere. My sister and her husband live in the mountains, and they keep guns, partly to handle bears or cougars that might come sniffing around the doors, and partly because law enforcement is generally 30-60 minutes away.

Of course, it is no longer fun or relaxing to hiking in the desert out around Phoenix anymore, it is overrun with chowderheads off shooting off their weapons and fantasizing about 3%-ing America

237
makeitstop  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:56:08am

re: #217 ObserverArt

I see he was declared Time “Man of the Year” too. They are going to regret that designation when he sets this country back years.

Remember that TIME also gave Ayatollah Khomeini MOTY once, too. Also, Hitler and Stalin, as was pointed out earlier.

The ‘prize’ isn’t always for being a good guy or a positive influence. Plenty of assholes have won it, too. Trump, of course, goes right into the asshole wing.

238
Franklin  Dec 7, 2016 • 7:56:20am

Interesting

239
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:08:45am

re: #237 makeitstop

Remember that TIME also gave Ayatollah Khomeini MOTY once, too. Also, Hitler and Stalin, as was pointed out earlier.

The ‘prize’ isn’t always for being a good guy or a positive influence. Plenty of assholes have won it, too. Trump, of course, goes right into the asshole wing.

My choice would have been “the generic online white supremacist” for exploiting poorly maintained or non-maintained venunes like Twitter and Reddit to spread their hate and enable the tenative Electoral College victory of Trump.

And make it generic to deny anyone the spotlight they don’t deserve.

240
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:09:12am

re: #239 Myron Falwell (no relation)

My choice would have been “the generic online white supremacist” for exploiting poorly maintained or non-maintained venunes like Twitter and Reddit to spread their hate and enable the tenative Electoral College victory of Trump.

And make it generic to deny anyone the spotlight they don’t deserve.

THE TWITTER EGG

241
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:10:51am

re: #240 The Vicious Babushka

THE TWITTER EGG

ORANGE TWITTER EGG

242
Romantic Heretic  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:11:08am

re: #155 lawhawk

dec 7, 1941, japan in a sneak attack kills thousands of americans
dec 7, 2016:

I filled out the last line as, “America attacks itself in a manner that was not a surprise at all.”

Then I thought, “This kinda makes what’s happening in America as an auto-immune disease.

243
Donkey With No Name  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:14:48am

In a Moebius twist that makes my head hurt, the Austin Statesman has to explain how a local joint was the target of “fake Pizzagate” (as opposed to real-but-fake Pizzagate):

mystatesman.com

244
makeitstop  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:15:01am

re: #239 Myron Falwell (no relation)

My choice would have been “the generic online white supremacist” for exploiting poorly maintained or non-maintained venunes like Twitter and Reddit to spread their hate and enable the tenative Electoral College victory of Trump.

And make it generic to deny anyone the spotlight they don’t deserve.

Or Russian hackers. Them fuckers did a lot of damage this year.

245
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:16:48am

re: #222 We’re Way Beyond Snark

Convenient and readily available do matter, though. Particularly in the back of beyond, in the absence of readily available internet.

that is part of an overall problem: a lot of rural america is living hand-to-mouth, they cannot even think of relocating or retraining because of the costs. that makes them very receptive to any candidate that promises to return “traditional” jobs to their regions.

246
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:17:15am
247
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:17:41am
248
Pawn of the Oppressor  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:19:16am

re: #104 bratwurst

[Embedded content]

Money quote from that “news” item:

Even Texas will be chilly, will Dallas expected to have its coldest day since 2015

The coldest day… Since this time last year. OH THE HUGE MANATEE!!!1

249
Jenner7  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:19:37am

“It’s so awful, we have to get rid of it and replace it…….um, later. No biggie.”

250
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:20:28am

re: #246 The Vicious Babushka

FACT → Obamacare is failing. We’ve got to replace this law.

30 million fewer uninsured Americans is a “failure”? By whose metric?

251
Franklin  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:21:10am

re: #250 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

20 million fewer uninsured Americans is a “failure”? By whose metric?

It’s like slavery.

252
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:22:10am

re: #251 Franklin

It’s like slavery.

Yep, the Democrat plantation! Time to free those slaves and turn them into sharecroppers!!!

253
Belafon  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:22:35am

re: #250 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

30 million fewer uninsured Americans is a “failure”? By whose metric?

Shareholders.

254
Colère Tueur de Lapin  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:23:14am

Why shouldn’t people be allowed to get as sick as possible so their only recourse is the emergency room and a bill that is 27.3x higher than if they had regular care?

Freedumb.

255
Arkansawyer  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:25:12am

Since it’s the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, I think it’s fair to ask this. Why don’t Guam and Wake Island get the same recognition? All three atracks were simultaneous. Wake Island was held by US troops until Dec. 23rd. It’s an incredible story that deserves to be told.

256
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:26:44am

re: #254 Colère Tueur de Lapin

Why shouldn’t people be allowed to get as sick as possible so their only recourse is the emergency room and a bill that is 27.3x higher than if they had regular care?

Freedumb.

and then many of them cannot pay the ER room bill and go bankrupt, while the costs are then passed on to the remaining people who are still insured, raising their rates…

that is what the Free Market does when you apply it to something like health care.

recipe for success and prosperity?

257
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:26:45am

re: #250 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

30 million fewer uninsured Americans is a “failure”? By whose metric?

They don’t use the metric system… only crudely drawn cave drawings.

258
Barefoot Grin  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:27:24am

re: #255 Arkansawyer

Since it’s the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, I think it’s fair to ask this. Why don’t Guam and Wake Island get the same recognition? All three atracks were simultaneous. Wake Island was held by US troops until Dec. 23rd. It’s an incredible story that deserves to be told.

“Is there anything you need?”

“Send us more Japs!”

Apparently this was made up either by military PR or the media. Still, they fought bravely on Wake.

259
Jayleia  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:27:54am

re: #257 Myron Falwell (no relation)

Oh, so they use the US measurement system?

260
Interesting Times  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:27:59am
261
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:28:04am

re: #255 Arkansawyer

Since it’s the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, I think it’s fair to ask this. Why don’t Guam and Wake Island get the same recognition? All three atracks were simultaneous. Wake Island was held by US troops until Dec. 23rd. It’s an incredible story that deserves to be told.

Those were still seen as embarrassing defeats that were are are still played down, like the Russians who held out until the very end at the Polish border fortress of Brest against the Germans in June of 1941

262
Romantic Heretic  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:28:28am

re: #255 Arkansawyer

In my opinion it’s because Pearl Harbour is part of American mythology while Wake and Guam are part of American history.

Since American history is something few Americans actually know anything about Wake and Guam, plus really important battles like Midway and Guadalcanal, are practically unknown.

263
electrotek  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:29:13am

Among black men, a spark of support for Donald Trump

The data don’t point to a “success” for Trump in courting black voters, but they do point to important nuance. For some black working-class men, like Melendez, Trump’s economic rhetoric resonated more than his racial rhetoric. In short, like their white working-class counterparts, they saw in Trump the man who would bring back their jobs and their dignity.

264
Blind Frog Belly White  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:29:24am

re: #255 Arkansawyer

Since it’s the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, I think it’s fair to ask this. Why don’t Guam and Wake Island get the same recognition? All three atracks were simultaneous. Wake Island was held by US troops until Dec. 23rd. It’s an incredible story that deserves to be told.

And the Phillipines, at the same time, but on the other side of the International Date Line.

Still, PH is remembered most prominently because it was the most damaging, and the most humiliating.

265
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:30:43am

re: #262 Romantic Heretic

In my opinion it’s because Perl Harbour is part of American mythology while Wake and Guam are part of American history.

Since American history is something few Americans actually know anything about Wake and Guam, plus really important battles like Midway and Guadalcanal, are practically unknown.

We know about Midway and Guadalcanal because they were key victories. We know a lot less about major operations on Peleilu or Bouganville, because they were only moderate successes or even medium-scale disasters for the US.

266
electrotek  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:31:11am

re: #255 Arkansawyer

Why limit it to America?

Why doesn’t the 19 February, 1942 surprise attack on Darwin by Japanese forces have the same recognition as Pearl Harbor does?

267
Blind Frog Belly White  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:31:22am

re: #263 electrotek

Among black men, a spark of support for Donald Trump

The problem is, a lot of working class folks don’t see a return of their dignity in retraining for jobs that actually exist. They only see it in the return of jobs that no longer exist.

268
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:32:05am

re: #266 electrotek

Why limit it to America?

Why doesn’t the 19 February, 1942 surprise attack on Darwin by Japanese forces have the same recognition as Pearl Harbor does?

Maybe it does, in Australia.

269
lawhawk  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:33:01am

re: #250 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

30 million fewer uninsured Americans is a “failure”? By whose metric?

The GOP. That’s the only one that counts. Facts and reality don’t matter, and this is still more proof that the GOP has completely divorced itself from reality.

At every step of the way since the ACA was enacted, the GOP has fought to repeal the ACA, tried to kneecap its operation, and fought to keep the Medicare expansion from kicking in - and this has worked to a point where GOP controlled states lag by every metric on health care insurance coverage.

The states that would have benefited the most from the Medicare expansion are those that still lag - by a tremendous degree. They include those in the deep South as well as places like Texas. The uninsured rates there lag the national average by a significant margin. Why? Because Texas refused to expand coverage and did the bare minimum to get people signed up for the marketplace plans.

This was all done knowing that the GOP wanted to make sure that the ACA was suffering under every handicap it could think of (limiting the pool of healthy individuals that would offset sick people and kick-start a death spiral).

Nothing the GOP has proposed as an alternative would remedy any of this. In fact, the GOP plans would mean millions lose coverage with no alternative. And the GOP claims that health savings accounts would save the day ignore that many simply can’t afford to have savings plans in the first place. That’s not an alternative, nor is buying plans across state lines.

And block grants for Medicare/Medicaid is just another GOP poison pill to cut funding by the back door.

270
electrotek  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:34:08am

re: #267 Blind Frog Belly White

In short, they want to have their cake and eat it.

271
ObserverArt  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:34:33am

re: #157 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

The Alternate Media Reality and the Dawn of the Age of the Great American Idiocracy

I never would have thought our media would be the “educators” to help bring about The Great American Idiocracy.

Instead of informing they are deforming.

272
Blind Frog Belly White  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:36:38am

re: #268 The Vicious Babushka

Maybe it does, in Australia.

Wasn’t Australia already in the war then? We weren’t. Japan simultaneously attacked American possessions all over the Pacific at a time when we were, at least nominally, at peace.

It’s funny when you think about it, the time before we got into the war for real. Germany had been sinking our merchant ships, and had sunk one of our destroyers, but we didn’t declare war based on that. Sentiment against getting involved was so strong that we had to let the intentional sinking of a US Navy ship go.

273
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:37:12am

Pizzagate has spread to a popular Brooklyn, NY pizzeria

274
Arkansawyer  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:38:24am

re: #264 Blind Frog Belly White

And the Phillipines, at the same time, but on the other side of the International Date Line.

Still, PH is remembered most prominently because it was the most damaging, and the most humiliating.

Ive always been astonished by the scope of the attacks. Multiple locations, across the Pacific, but for some reason we choose to narrow it only to Hawaii when recognizing rhe attacks. The speed at which the images and news of Pearl Haror traveled probably played a part in that.

275
scottslemmons  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:39:58am

re: #273 The Vicious Babushka

Pizzagate has spread to a popular Brooklyn, NY pizzeria

[Embedded content]

So the Republican base is just basically declaring mindless war on pizza. :/

276
makeitstop  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:41:41am

re: #271 ObserverArt

I never would have thought our media would be the “educators” to help bring about The Great American Idiocracy.

Instead of informing they are deforming.

Shortest distance between two points - nearly everyone has a TV.

And the corporations behind the media outlets have decided that a confused, dumbed-down populace is better for business than an informed one.

They, along with the modern GOP, have sold this country the fuck out. And plenty of stupid people are cheering as they do it.

277
electrotek  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:41:54am

re: #272 Blind Frog Belly White

Yeah they were. And unlike the U.S., they had to deal with Japanese forces close to their major urban centres. Japanese submarines in the Sydney Harbour, for example, caused quite a bit of an exodus from the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney during the war (hard to believe looking at how desirable and populated it is these days).

Perhaps the German sinking of our ship didn’t elicit as much of a response because of the racial aspect?

278
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:41:55am

re: #267 Blind Frog Belly White

The problem is, a lot of working class folks don’t see a return of their dignity in retraining for jobs that actually exist. They only see it in the return of jobs that no longer exist.

This was the greatest promise of any government: the ability to come through with well paid, stable jobs that required a minimum of training or education, just persistence and a strong work ethic.

People still fall for that promise, because it is easier than buckling down and learning.

279
Belafon  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:42:00am

re: #273 The Vicious Babushka

Pizzagate has spread to a popular Brooklyn, NY pizzeria

Love may trump hate, but this is going to require a real response. Now that it’s occurred in NY, the state can get involved in investigating it. It should involve the FBI.

280
makeitstop  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:42:55am

re: #273 The Vicious Babushka

Pizzagate has spread to a popular Brooklyn, NY pizzeria

[Embedded content]

We’ve eaten at that place a few times. Just a normal business serving up old style, delicious Italian food. WTF?

281
scottslemmons  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:43:13am

Instagram

I just finished reading “The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet” by Becky Chambers. Yay for reading! :)

Any of y’all love science fiction, I recommend this one very, very highly. It’s got humor and wonder and excitement. It’s got the joy and strangeness of space travel and aliens (and humanity). It’s optimistic sci-fi, and it’s exactly what I’ve been needing in the post-sane universe.

282
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:43:32am

re: #271 ObserverArt

I never would have thought our media would be the “educators” to help bring about The Great American Idiocracy.

Instead of informing they are deforming.

They are not here to inform. They are here to make a profit selling advertising time. The content they provide is merely window dressing to attract viewers and increase the value of the product they are selling.

283
makeitstop  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:45:09am

re: #282 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

They are not here to inform. They are here to make a profit selling advertising time. The content they provide is merely window dressing to attract viewers and increase the value of the product they are selling.

Someone wiser than I put it perfectly - we’re no longer the audience. We’re now the product.

284
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:46:27am

re: #283 makeitstop

Someone wiser than I put it perfectly - we’re no longer the audience. We’re now the product.

I do not see it that way, but we are still deceived into seeing ourselves as the “consumers” and the programming as the “product” when that is not the case at all

285
ObserverArt  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:46:40am

re: #232 Myron Falwell (no relation)

Good news. Josh Mandel has decided that he wants to lose again to Sen. Sherrod Brown in 2018. (Brown steamrolled him in 2012.)

[Embedded content]

Oh how I hate Josh Mandel. He is the new Mike DeWine/Jim Petro/Betty Montgomery/Ken Blackwell Republican Political Welfare Politician of Ohio.

286
Mike Lamb  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:48:31am

re: #269 lawhawk

It’s how the GOP operates:

1. Proclaim gov’t is failing;
2. Do everything possible to ensure gov’t programs can’t succeed;
3. Return to step 1.

287
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:56:18am

Dumbass Baby Whiplash derps again.

288
Belafon  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:57:22am

re: #287 Myron Falwell (no relation)

Dumbass Baby Whiplash derps again.

Yeah, just remember how much Republicans wanted a “United States” under Obama.

289
BeachDem  Dec 7, 2016 • 8:59:01am

re: #286 Mike Lamb

It’s how the GOP operates:

1. Proclaim gov’t is failing;
2. Do everything possible to ensure gov’t programs can’t succeed;
3. Return to step 1.

I’d add another:
4. Gleefully harm as many people as possible along the way.

It truly makes me ill to see the gleam in the eyes of Republicans when they push for things that will cause widespread pain and suffering. It’s why I think they are hateful, mean people.

290
Mike Lamb  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:06:24am

re: #287 Myron Falwell (no relation)

Dumbass Baby Whiplash derps again.

[Embedded content]

Because Obama won a clear majority in the popular and the electoral college. Trump got creamed in the popular and is further emphasizing the division between Trump and Not Trump with his stupid fucking victory tour. It’s about as divided as you can get right now, with one of the least competent people in American history making disingenuous noises with his mouth hole and cell phone that he will be the President for everyone…

291
Mike Lamb  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:07:47am

re: #289 BeachDem

I’d add another:
4. Gleefully harm as many people as possible along the way.

It truly makes me ill to see the gleam in the eyes of Republicans when they push for things that will cause widespread pain and suffering. It’s why I think they are hateful, mean people.

Collateral damage, omelette/eggs, bootstraps, etc. And also—never forget: Rich people will do less unless they have more, while poor people will only do more if they have less.

292
lawhawk  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:09:09am
293
BeachDem  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:10:57am

re: #289 BeachDem

I’d add another:
4. Gleefully harm as many people as possible along the way.

It truly makes me ill to see the gleam in the eyes of Republicans when they push for things that will cause widespread pain and suffering. It’s why I think they are hateful, mean people.

Case in point:

Senate Dem Report: New Price Budget Reform Proposal Declares “War On Seniors”, Puts Medicare And Social Security In The Cross Hairs
Dec 5, 2016
Despite Repeated Pledges to Protect Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, President-elect Trump’s Nominee to HHS Recently Released New Radical Proposals That Seek to Unravel These Very Programs

Senate Democrats today released a new report showing how House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price’s, President-elect Trump’s nominee to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services, recently released proposal would make a wide variety of changes in the federal budget process that are consistent with Rep. Price’s well-established hostility toward Medicare, Social Security and other priorities of America’s seniors and working families.

dpcc.senate.gov

294
Colère Tueur de Lapin  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:12:49am

re: #292 lawhawk

Got’s Flynn’s paws all over that interpretation.

We’re in for a very rocky ride. Wonder how the Intel Policy Analysts will take repeated beatings like this? Move on?

295
Stanley Sea  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:15:07am

Another general

296
Belafon  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:15:33am

re: #294 Colère Tueur de Lapin

Got’s Flynn’s paws all over that interpretation.

We’re in for a very rocky ride. Wonder how the Intel Policy Analysts will take repeated beatings like this? Move on?

This would be one of those places where the media could have access to what’s going on in the Trump Administration.

297
lawhawk  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:15:51am

re: #294 Colère Tueur de Lapin

Flynn has repeated been noted as having a loose interpretation of reality and facts, which was one of the reasons he got canned. He’s now guiding Trump, whose own loose relationship with facts and reality meshes well but which will cost the US bigly. Ignoring and refusing to accept IC information is a warning sign. That Trump sides with the Russian position is even worse, given that the Russians have been messing with the US electorate with a misinformation campaign for a while now.

298
Ziggy_TARDIS  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:18:17am

re: #238 Franklin

I think he would be better in Congress. Especially for Muslims.

299
makeitstop  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:19:47am

re: #284 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

I do not see it that way, but we are still deceived into seeing ourselves as the “consumers” and the programming as the “product” when that is not the case at all

It makes sense in a ‘viewing through the opposite end of the telescope’ kind of way.

300
makeitstop  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:23:22am

re: #295 Stanley Sea

Retired Marine Gen. John Kelly picked to run Homeland Security.

Retired in February???

There’s a systematic destruction of civilian control of the military going on, right before our eyes. Unbelievable.

(Edited to correct month.)

301
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:24:37am


It Was a Corruption Election. It’s Time We Realized It.
American politics is profoundly corrupt. Until we come to grips with that fact, the populists will keep winning.

I found this to be a disturbing article. If anyone can get thru the firewall to read it -I’d appreciate your thoughts.

302
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:27:38am
Trump’s leading pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, US Rep. Tom Price, believes that “there’s not one” woman who can’t afford birth control. Rep. Tom Price is an anti-choice extremist, and the policies he supports would make health care less safe, less convenient and less affordable for women. Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services would be able to repeal one of President Obama’s initiatives that has had a huge positive impact for women: birth control with no cost sharing for women under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

sign if u wish

303
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:29:44am

re: #302 Birth Control Works

Trump’s leading pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, US Rep. Tom Price, believes that “there’s not one” woman who can’t afford birth control.

He is going according to the meme that ALL BIRTH CONTROL IS JUST A BUNCH OF CONDOMS & WHO CAN’T AFFORD TO BUY A CONDOM!!!!11!!!

304
retired cynic  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:30:55am

re: #244 makeitstop

Or Russian hackers. Them fuckers did a lot of damage this year.

Or Comey.

305
lawhawk  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:32:10am

The hits keep on coming.

Oklahoma AG likely next EPA head, which means gutting clean water and air regulations, and making it easier for oil/gas producers to pollute. It’ll also mean a potential rollback of car/truck economy standards and smokestack emissions. You know, because it’s not like we need air to breathe or water to drink.

306
retired cynic  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:33:20am

re: #255 Arkansawyer

Since it’s the anniversary of Pearl Harbor, I think it’s fair to ask this. Why don’t Guam and Wake Island get the same recognition? All three atracks were simultaneous. Wake Island was held by US troops until Dec. 23rd. It’s an incredible story that deserves to be told.

Because Americans think in slogans. “Remember the Alamo!”

307
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:33:30am

re: #289 BeachDem

It truly makes me ill to see the gleam in the eyes of Republicans when they push for things that will cause widespread pain and suffering. It’s why I think they are hateful, mean people.

That hate has been fermenting for decades through the obvious channels. Only it’s out in the open now.

re: #290 Mike Lamb

Trump got creamed in the popular and is further emphasizing the division between Trump and Not Trump with his stupid fucking victory tour. It’s about as divided as you can get right now, with one of the least competent people in American history making disingenuous noises with his mouth hole and cell phone that he will be the President for everyone…

I turn 35 this Friday, and even I can feel the deep unrest like never before in multiple angles.

Yes, I have mentioned this before in previous comments (thus I apologize if I sound repetitive) but there are so many instances of tyrannical acts that, while targeting specific people (eg, shooting unarmed POCs, physically/mentally assaulting Muslims, the atrocities at Standing Rock), have a cumulative effect of resentment and anger. Something is going to go wrong… horribly wrong… and the GOP rank-and-file will ultimately be unable to suppress it… because that requires unity, something totally anathema to them.

Anyone with a clue knows that this can only lead to trouble… grave trouble.

308
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:33:41am

Wall Street is now officially (well on Jan 20) in control of the US.

309
ObserverArt  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:33:59am

re: #282 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

They are not here to inform. They are here to make a profit selling advertising time. The content they provide is merely window dressing to attract viewers and increase the value of the product they are selling.

I don’t mean just TV media. This goes deep. We have so much crap that is helping dumb us down.

310
Backwoods_Sleuth  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:38:21am
311
Citizen K  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:38:24am

re: #308 Birth Control Works

Wall Street is now officially (well on Jan 20) in control of the US.

To think Hillary was bashed and savaged for being the ‘Wall Street candidate’ herself. Look what happened there.

312
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:38:43am

re: #306 retired cynic

Because Americans think in slogans. “Remember the Alamo!”

I still can’t believe that there is no basement in the Alamo. 😉

313
retired cynic  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:39:16am

re: #279 Belafon

Love may trump hate, but this is going to require a real response. Now that it’s occurred in NY, the state can get involved in investigating it. It should involve the FBI.

Multiple states, conspiracy? It should involved the federal level.

314
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:39:27am

re: #308 Birth Control Works

Wall Street is now officially (well on Jan 20) in control of the US.

315
Backwoods_Sleuth  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:40:24am
316
ObserverArt  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:41:18am

Haven’t done too many ‘shops lately. I had to do this one to make me feel a tiny bit better.

317
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:42:06am

Some entity from the Democratic Party called me the other day. I told them I was still to angry to talk and hung-up b4 they could say anything else.

318
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:42:52am

re: #316 ObserverArt

Haven’t done too many ‘shops lately. I had to do this one to make me feel a tiny bit better.

[Embedded content]

All he needs now is the Nobel Peace Prize and he officially will be first in line for heaven.

319
Backwoods_Sleuth  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:44:54am
320
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:45:48am

Fox News Drones won’t have a clue of anything we talk about here. If it isn’t broadcast by Bill or Sean, it hasn’t happened or is irrelevant.

321
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:46:13am

re: #318 Birth Control Works

All he needs now is the Nobel Peace Prize and he officially will be first in line for heaven.

The Evangelicals would certainly LURV that, no doubt.

322
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:46:17am

re: #309 ObserverArt

I don’t mean just TV media. This goes deep. We have so much crap that is helping dumb us down.

Of course. There is a cultural thing with America, a broad streak of anti-intellectualism that goes back to the time when we had a serious cultural and technological inferiority complex towards Europe, and we were convinced that we were nonetheless morally superior to those decadent, effete elitists.

323
Citizen K  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:46:58am

re: #319 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

I like prankster Biden more than dad Biden still.

324
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:47:05am

re: #312 Myron Falwell (no relation)

I still can’t believe that there is no basement in the Alamo. 😉

Just because there was no basement does not mean that John Wayne was not raping babies down there…

325
Backwoods_Sleuth  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:48:04am
326
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:48:04am

re: #321 Myron Falwell (no relation)

The Evangelicals would certainly LURV that, no doubt.

You mean the Christian Mullahs?

327
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:49:15am

re: #325 Backwoods_Sleuth

Half of my fellow New Yorkers are a paycheck away from homelessness, but somehow I keep getting told they’re “coastal elites.”

Only difference is that they have a ghost of a chance of finding a new job if they lose their current one.

328
Backwoods_Sleuth  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:49:31am
329
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:50:02am
330
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:51:05am

re: #326 Birth Control Works

You mean the Christian Mullahs?

They would personally build the stairway to heaven for Trump and Pence, right next to the Literal Noah’s Ark.

331
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:52:07am

re: #330 Myron Falwell (no relation)

They would personally build the stairway to heaven for Trump and Pence, right next to the Literal Noah’s Ark.

the base step would be next to the Creation Museum in Kentucky.

332
Eventual Carrion  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:53:07am

re: #315 Backwoods_Sleuth

[Embedded content]

If the law passes then people should start taking out life insurance policies on the “6 week old child” just as I would be able to with one that was actually born. Life insurance policies are what many people use to help pay for funerals, so if the 6 week old fetus naturally aborts then that insurance payout will help pay for the MANDATORY funeral shit they are pushing. I don’t think the insurance companies will like that very much since only 30% of conceptions make it to live birth.

333
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:53:56am

So the Electoral College hasn’t yet voted.

There is a letter writing and phone campaign going on to get them to not vote for Trump.

ho hum

334
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:54:33am

re: #332 Eventual Carrion

If the law passes then people should start taking out life insurance policies on the “6 week old child” just as I would be able to with one that was actually born. Life insurance policies are what many people use to help pay for funerals, so if the 6 week old fetus naturally aborts then that insurance payout will help pay for the MANDATORY funeral shit they are pushing. I don’t think the insurance companies will like that very much since only 30% of conceptions make it to live birth.

THe underwriting process would take more than 6 weeks.

335
Backwoods_Sleuth  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:54:49am

sigh…

337
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:55:59am

re: #334 Birth Control Works

The underwriting process would take more than 6 weeks.

Just take one out every time you have unprotected sex…

338
BeachDem  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:59:46am

And of course:

339
lawhawk  Dec 7, 2016 • 9:59:50am

re: #337 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Just take one out every time you have unprotected sex…

Every time you have sex. Because there’s still a chance of pregnancy even if you use birth control.

340
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:00:59am
Hamilton’s understanding of the Electoral College[edit]
Federalist No. 68 is the continuation of Hamilton’s analysis of the presidency, in this case concerned with the mode of selecting the United States President. He argues for our modern conception of the Electoral College, though in the case of an Electoral tie, the power would be given to the House of Representatives to vote on the election of the president.

In justifying the use of the Electoral College, Hamilton focuses on a few arguments dealing with the use of the Electoral College instead of direct election. First, in explaining the role of the general populace in the election of the president, Hamilton argues that the, “sense of the people”, through the election of the electors to the Electoral College, should be a part of the process. The final say, however, lies with the electors, who Hamilton notes are,

“Men most capable of analyzing the qualities adapted to the station and acting under circumstances favorable to deliberation, and to a judicious combination of all the reasons and inducements which were proper to govern their choice.”

Therefore, the direct election of the president is left up to those who have been selected by the voters to become the electors. This indirect election is justified by Hamilton because while a republic is still served, the system allows for only a certain type of person to be elected president, preventing individuals who are unfit for a variety of reasons to be in the position of chief executive of the country.

This is reflected in his later fears about the types of people who could potentially become president. He worries that corrupted individuals could, particularly those who are either more directly associated with a foreign state, or individuals who do not have the capacity to run the country. The former is covered by Article II, Section 1, v of the United States Constitution, while the latter is covered by Hamilton in Federalist 68, where he notes that the person who will become president will have to be a person who possesses the faculties necessary to be a president, stating that,

“Talents for low intrigue, and the little arts of popularity, may alone suffice to elevate a man to the first honors in a single State; but it will require other talents, and a different kind of merit, to establish him in the esteem and confidence of the whole Union, or of so considerable a portion of it as would be necessary to make him a successful candidate for the distinguished office of President of the United States”

Hamilton, while discussing the safeguards, is not concerned with the possibility of an unfit individual becoming president, instead he says,

It will not be too strong to say, that there will be a constant probability of seeing the station filled by characters pre-eminent for ability and virtue.

wiki

341
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:02:00am

re: #333 Birth Control Works

So the Electoral College hasn’t yet voted.

There is a letter writing and phone campaign going on to get them to not vote for Trump.

ho hum

The problem isn’t that they are making the attempt. Honestly, I expect quite a bit of faithless electors, but not remotely enough to make an impact.

It’s that they are trying to push Kasich as a “reasonable alternative.”

342
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:03:52am

I suspect a lot of pregnancy tests will now be sold in Ohio. Just to make sure.

343
Backwoods_Sleuth  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:04:46am

Of all President-elect Donald J. Trump’s rivals over the past year, the tiny narrow-mouthed whorl snail must be the smallest. Sometimes, though, less is more.

Mr. Trump’s real estate organization had planned to build a long sea wall off the Irish coast to protect its golf course in County Clare. But the wall faced opposition from environmental groups who said they feared that it would threaten the two-millimeter-long whorl snail, or vertigo angustior, which lives in the area, as well as coastal dunes. Both are protected by European Union rules.

Now it appears that the snail has prevailed.

Of course Trump’s people claim other reasons for backing down.

Mr. Trump’s representatives said at a meeting at the club this week that they would replace the planned sea wall with two much smaller barriers.

“The simple reason for these changes is time,” Joe Russell, general manager at the resort, said in an interview. “The original proposal was going to take too long to push through. I don’t have that time. I have the Atlantic Ocean coming at me.”

But climate change is a hoax, don’cha know…

344
BeachDem  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:06:34am

re: #329 The Vicious Babushka

[Embedded content]

Yeah, Kris Jordan has always been a total charmer:

Just a sample:
Kris Jordan introduces bill that would jail federal agents
Kris Jordan lies about purpose of anti-Planned Parenthood bill
Kris Jordan calls deputies at home, claims Sheriff is “out to ruin his political career”
Kris Jordan dash cam video suggests years of “violent and physical” behavior
Kris Jordan voted against domestic violence bill

plunderbund.com

346
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:08:41am

re: #335 Backwoods_Sleuth

sigh…

Not to be confused with the onetime pro football QB Tim Couch who also is from Hyden, Kentucky.

347
GlutenFreeJesus  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:08:41am

TIME should have used this pic instead.

348
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:10:40am

Pre Roe v. Wade, as is well documented, clandestine abortions became the norm, resulting in women seeking self-induced, or dangerous, illegal procedures—often leading to death. The death rates were staggering. But, for wealthy women, the scenario was different. According to Charbonneau, in 1969, a Seattle [Japanese/American-owned] travel company, every Friday, filled a chartered 747 with women and headed to Tokyo, where abortions were legal.

“They’d go to Tokyo, have abortions by doctors, go to a few Shinto shrines, pick up some souvenirs, and pretend they did a weekend jaunt to Japan, for fun,” Charbonneau said. “It cost $1700, which was a truckload of money back then. That’s how the rich women did it. Poor women did scarier stuff.”

349
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:13:27am

Saddam Hussain’s mother tried to self-induce an abortion while pregnant with him.

Trust Women.

350
The Dude Abides  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:13:53am

re: #167 darthstar

Who’s that guy?

351
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:16:49am
These pieces, which have recently branched out from Spencer to whimsical descriptions of European-based neo-Nazi groups more broadly, share a fascination with his virility. They are almost eager to reassure readers that, despite the fact that Spencer throws around “Heil Hitlers,” his appeal is somehow remarkable: bound to his good taste, as though that good taste is somehow a reflection on morality. Beyond that, each of these profiles—be it in Mother Jones, the Washington Post or the Los Angeles Times—are equally captivated by the image of masculinity Spencer exudes. Fascinated by Spencer’s fascism, the profiles perform a naturalization of Spencer’s physicality, pretending that his posture is simply the way of the world.

I’ve noticed a slight shift in headlines and articles all over the media.

I guess everyone wants to be associated with the winner.

352
wrenchwench  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:17:48am

re: #347 GlutenFreeJesus

[Embedded content]

TIME should have used this pic instead.

My sister-in-law specialized for a while in taking photos of frogs inflated like that, because it was proof that the photo was not staged with a refrigerated frog. [Also, copulating frogs, for same reason.] She got her PhD last month in Bogota.

353
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:20:57am

Ted Cruz throw up in your mouth moment==>

354
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:20:58am
355
Backwoods_Sleuth  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:21:11am
356
Bear  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:24:39am

Seventy five years ago today was a nice sunny day in San Francisco’s fogy belt. My parents were working n the back yard and my buddy and I had been playing in the cabbage fields where now SF State is located. When I got back from playing one of the neighbors told us about Pearl Harbor.

357
Eclectic Cyborg  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:26:14am

re: #315 Backwoods_Sleuth

Is that Mara Wilson the actress?

358
wrenchwench  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:27:55am

re: #353 The Vicious Babushka

Ted Cruz throw up in your mouth moment==>

[Embedded content]

Works without clicking!

I only had to see his name.

359
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:29:00am

360
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:31:42am

re: #12 Shiplord Kirel

GOD DAMN!

I thought I would never, ever see this in the United States. It not only can happen here, it has happened here. This is not a fringe-dwelling crank but someone whose movement has the ear of the President of the United States.

I am not given to alarmism or hysteria but I cannot ignore the evidence of my own eyes. Pogroms and vigilante terrorism are coming. The fascist hordes are already armed. They are counting on having a monopoly of weapons. Don’t concede them that monopoly: Arm yourselves and be ready. It is your right and your duty.

They’ll burn a woman at the stake before anyone will wake-up.

or

Sinclair Lewis -It Can’t Happen Here

They won’t wake-up.

361
Donkey With No Name  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:32:00am

re: #301 Birth Control Works


It Was a Corruption Election. It’s Time We Realized It.
American politics is profoundly corrupt. Until we come to grips with that fact, the populists will keep winning.

I found this to be a disturbing article. If anyone can get thru the firewall to read it -I’d appreciate your thoughts.

I don’t disagree with the main point; I do find the swipes at Clinton a bit obnoxious. I personally would phrase it a bit differently - the question is whether we will insist on the rule of law going forward - and unfortunately I think it’s already pretty clear that a lot of Americans won’t actually care until it’s potentially too late for them to do much about it.

362
Backwoods_Sleuth  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:33:35am

re: #357 Eclectic Cyborg

Is that Mara Wilson the actress?

yes

363
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:33:59am

I keep thinking of the one line from God Bless You Mr. Rosewater.

“Tell me one good thing about those people Eliot helps.”

“I can’t.”

“I thought not.”

“It’s a secret thing,” she said, forced to argue, pleading for the argument to stop right there.

Without any notion of how merciless he was being, the Senator pressed on. “You’re among friends now—suppose you tell us what this great secret is.”

“The secret is that they’re human,” said Sylvia.

364
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:35:22am

re: #361 Donkey With No Name

I don’t disagree with the main point; I do find the swipes at Clinton a bit obnoxious. I personally would phrase it a bit differently - the question is whether we will insist on the rule of law going forward - and unfortunately I think it’s already pretty clear that a lot of Americans won’t actually care until it’s potentially too late for them to do much about it.

I think what disturbs me is the the heart of the corruption is WALL STREET. The gradual decimation of Glass-Stegall created much of what was described in the article as corruption

365
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:38:22am

re: #361 Donkey With No Name

I don’t disagree with the main point; I do find the swipes at Clinton a bit obnoxious. I personally would phrase it a bit differently - the question is whether we will insist on the rule of law going forward - and unfortunately I think it’s already pretty clear that a lot of Americans won’t actually care until it’s potentially too late for them to do much about it.

Also, the article indicates that the law isn’t sufficient —in the case of the SCOTUS case. I read no advocacy for changing the law.

366
gocart mozart  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:38:29am

re: #116 Myron Falwell (no relation)

367
Colère Tueur de Lapin  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:40:24am

Happy Saturnalius. Respect of the traditional celebration that was co-opted by the christians to further their goals of domination.

368
Citizen K  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:41:09am

re: #351 Birth Control Works

I’ve noticed a slight shift in headlines and articles all over the media.

I guess everyone wants to be associated with the winner.

The shift feels like it’s a lot more drastic than ‘slight’.

369
Kragar  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:42:00am
370
We're Way Beyond Snark  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:48:34am

re: #301 Birth Control Works


It Was a Corruption Election. It’s Time We Realized It.
American politics is profoundly corrupt. Until we come to grips with that fact, the populists will keep winning.

I found this to be a disturbing article. If anyone can get thru the firewall to read it -I’d appreciate your thoughts.

Too much MBF (HRC was not accepting gifts from foreign leaders as SoS). But I agree in general.

371
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:48:50am
372
darthstar  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:49:35am
373
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:49:45am

re: #370 We’re Way Beyond Snark

Too much MBF (HRC was not accepting gifts from foreign leaders as SoS). But I agree in general.

mbf?

374
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:50:22am

re: #368 Citizen K

The shift feels like it’s a lot more drastic than ‘slight’.

To those of us to whom it matters.

375
lawhawk  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:50:37am

re: #369 Kragar

The difference between a F-3 and F-5 tornado hitting your home. A F-3 will rearrange the contents of your home thoroughly, but the F-5 will permanently rip your house to shreds.

The worry was Trump nominating a bunch of F-5 extremists. That he nominates someone who is only an F-3 gives a sigh of relief? Nope. They’re still an extremist.

376
Belafon  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:52:01am

re: #371 Birth Control Works

Yep, and churches are the biggest shamers of the poor right now.

377
darthstar  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:53:35am

re: #372 darthstar

When all else fails, dick jokes.

378
harlequinade  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:53:54am

re: #373 Birth Control Works

Magical Balance Fairy. Both-siderism

379
Citizen K  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:53:54am

re: #373 Birth Control Works

mbf?

Magical Balance Fairy. A.K.A. worshipping at the altar of ‘Both Sides, Same Thing’.

380
BeachDem  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:56:42am

Samantha Bee on Trump:

“One of the major questions being debated in our country today is whether it’s okay for the president to lie his fucking face off 24 hours a day. Somehow, the jury is still out on that one.”

381
darthstar  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:57:27am

Okay…this on top of the Time thing is likely to set a few people off.

382
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:57:31am

re: #281 scottslemmons

[Embedded content]

Any of y’all love science fiction, I recommend this one very, very highly. It’s got humor and wonder and excitement. It’s got the joy and strangeness of space travel and aliens (and humanity). It’s optimistic sci-fi, and it’s exactly what I’ve been needing in the post-sane universe.

It’s in my pile

383
Citizen K  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:58:00am

re: #380 BeachDem

Samantha Bee on Trump:

“One of the major questions being debated in our country today is whether it’s okay for the president to lie his fucking face off 24 hours a day. Somehow, the jury is still out on that one.”

Media’s answer to that is another question: ‘Is it really a lie if we don’t treat it like one?’

384
darthstar  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:58:13am

Everyone wants the new coach to succeed (and not destroy the entire league).

385
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:58:54am

re: #376 Belafon

Yep, and churches are the biggest shamers of the poor right now.

Yes, one must be able to give to the Church. They accept Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover, PayPal, Bitcoin, Cash and Legacy Life Insurance Policy Benefits.

386
Citizen K  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:59:01am

re: #384 darthstar

Everyone wants the new coach to succeed (and not destroy the entire league).

This is a rather apt analogy, considering Trump’s terrible decision-making killed the USFL.

387
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:59:25am

re: #384 darthstar

Everyone wants the new coach to succeed (and not destroy the entire league).

Succeed with his goals or ours?

388
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 10:59:52am

re: #383 Citizen K

Media’s answer to that is another question: ‘Is it really a lie if we don’t treat it like one?’

HIStory is written by the victors… .

389
Kragar  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:00:06am

re: #384 darthstar

Everyone wants the new coach to succeed (and not destroy the entire league).

Wrong.

390
gocart mozart  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:00:51am
391
Kragar  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:01:04am
392
darthstar  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:01:18am

re: #387 Birth Control Works

Succeed with his goals or ours?

Yes and no…or No and yes.

393
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:01:50am

re: #381 darthstar

Okay…this on top of the Time thing is likely to set a few people off.

[Embedded content]

50% favorable rating, meaning it’s still not a clear majority. He’s got all the Branch Trumpidians by his side as well as a few who legitimately want to give him a chance… for a few fleeting seconds.

This will more than likely be his high-water mark.

394
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:01:57am

re: #381 darthstar

Poll: Americans like Trump now more than ever

I suspect that he has a few surprises up his sleeve that are going to make him unexpectedly popular with a lot of people who otherwise do not support him (forgiving student loan debt, for example)…But that will not make him any less fucked up overall, just more dangerous.

395
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:02:00am

I guess we need to define “success”.

Equal opportunity under the law or

a balanced budget prosperous economy for some?

It can all look good on paper …

396
Citizen K  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:02:40am
397
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:02:45am

NO SHIT

398
lawhawk  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:03:01am

re: #384 darthstar

Everyone wants the new coach to succeed (and not destroy the entire league).

Everyone hopes the new coach succeeds, but the reality is that Trump is out of his league. Thinks he can impose football rules on baseball, bring in family members to be the offensive coordinator despite having no experience, and then picks a special teams coach who admits that he’s not up to doing the job but still gets picked anyways.

Oh, and Trump picks a bunch of former players who are ineligible to be management because there are rules against immediate transitions from player to management.

And all the while, Trump is dealing with competing leagues and sports, but no one seems to know what he’s doing because he wont reveal any details that might show self-dealing for personal profit.

Oh, and hope/wishful thinking isn’t a strategy. Or even a plan.

399
darthstar  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:03:04am

re: #389 Kragar

Wrong.

Hey, we survived Bush, we can survive this asshole. The important thing is to hope the indictments of his first round appointments come fast enough that we can have a few years to recover before we elect [_T_B_D__] to be our knight in shining armor.

400
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:04:13am

WHOA

401
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:04:23am

re: #399 darthstar

Hey, we survived Bush, we can survive this asshole. The important thing is to hope the indictments of his first round appointments come fast enough that we can have a few years to recover before we elect [_T_B_D__] to be our knight in shining armor.

The only thing that keeps me going is the knowledge that things have to get a lot worse before they can start to get any better. I am not looking for any light at the end of tunnel, heck, we have not even entered the tunnel yet…

402
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:05:04am

re: #398 lawhawk

Everyone hopes the new coach succeeds, but the reality is that Trump is out of his league. Thinks he can impose football rules on baseball, bring in family members to be the offensive coordinator despite having no experience, and then picks a special teams coach who admits that he’s not up to doing the job but still gets picked anyways.

Oh, and Trump picks a bunch of former players who are ineligible to be management because there are rules against immediate transitions from player to management.

And all the while, Trump is dealing with competing leagues and sports, but no one seems to know what he’s doing because he wont reveal any details that might show self-dealing for personal profit.

Oh, and hope/wishful thinking isn’t a strategy. Or even a plan.

It’s all about the balance sheet and the stockholders happiness.

403
We're Way Beyond Snark  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:05:25am

re: #373 Birth Control Works

mbf?

Magical balance fairy (i.e. both sides the same).

404
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:05:50am

re: #401 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

The only thing that keeps me going is the knowledge that things have to get a lot worse before they can start to get any better. I am not looking for any light at the end of tunnel, heck, we have not even entered the tunnel yet…

by 2040? there will be more people of color in the USA than white people.

I guess some what Apartheid to be in that future.

405
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:06:34am

Jared is a little punk fascist (but I already said that, didn’t I?)

406
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:07:39am

re: #399 darthstar

Hey, we survived Bush, we can survive this asshole. The important thing is to hope the indictments of his first round appointments come fast enough that we can have a few years to recover before we elect [_T_B_D__] to be our knight in shining armor.

That would be the problem: People want a knight in shining armor to lead the shining city on the hill.

People want someone to follow … they don’t want to stand-up and be adults themselves.

407
gocart mozart  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:07:56am
408
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:08:38am

re: #384 darthstar

Everyone wants the new coach to succeed (and not destroy the entire league).

Which will only last for a few days… or, if Trump is lucky, a few weeks.

Nowhere to go but down…

409
Shiplord Kirel  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:09:50am

re: #384 darthstar

Everyone wants the new coach to succeed (and not destroy the entire league).

But this coach is working for the other team.

410
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:10:15am

What do the residents of Cuba say?

“I eat every day.”

411
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:10:31am

METAPHOR OF THE DAY

412
klys (maker of Silmarils)  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:10:39am

re: #399 darthstar

Hey, we survived Bush, we can survive this asshole. The important thing is to hope the indictments of his first round appointments come fast enough that we can have a few years to recover before we elect [_T_B_D__] to be our knight in shining armor.

Your reminder that not all Americans survived Bush.

413
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:11:54am

re: #412 klys (maker of Silmarils)

Your reminder that not all Americans survived Bush.

Nonetheless, we did not go down and came back to elect an outstanding President.

I am just wondering how much of the damage about to be inflicted on this country will be irreversible.

414
Interesting Times  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:12:01am

re: #408 Myron Falwell (no relation)

Which will only last for a few days… or, if Trump is lucky, a few weeks.

Nowhere to go but down…

Remember how Dubya’s approval ratings shot up to the 90s in the aftermath of 9/11? That’s why my biggest fear at this point is an Operation Northwoods-style false flag attack within the first few months of Cheetolini’s admin.

415
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:13:08am

Eat Every Day or have the Trains Run on Time

Seems to be the choices people see.

416
Citizen K  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:13:17am

re: #405 The Vicious Babushka

417
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:14:23am

re: #394 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

I suspect that he has a few surprises up his sleeve that are going to make him unexpectedly popular with a lot of people who otherwise do not support him (forgiving student loan debt, for example)…But that will not make him any less fucked up overall, just more dangerous.

In order to pull that off, he’d have to stab his supporters in the back, fire Bannon and the entire cabinet, order Pence to resign, and publicly repudiate every single entity that has backed him up to this point in time.

I don’t even think he’s THAT mentally unstable.

418
Kragar  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:14:24am
419
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:14:29am

re: #414 Interesting Times

Remember how Dubya’s approval ratings shot up to the 90s in the aftermath of 9/11? That’s why my biggest fear at this point is an Operation Northwoods-style false flag attack within the first few months of Cheetolini’s admin.

Dubya stood tall after 9/11. His acting ability was necessary to keep people from going totally crazy. I think any POTUS would have behaved similarly.

It’s the decisions and actions made afterward that sucked.

420
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:14:59am

re: #417 Myron Falwell (no relation)

In order to pull that off, he’d have to stab his supporters in the back, fire Bannon and the entire cabinet, order Pence to resign, and publicly repudiate every single entity that has backed him up to this point in time.

I don’t even think he’s THAT mentally unstable.

Well, if he passes the ERA —I’d consider liking him.

421
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:15:13am

re: #416 Citizen K

Yes, Jared. Tell a Muslim that you “know all about Islam” because you spent 1 1/2 yrs. in Egypt and speak ‘some’ Arabic.

compared to a lot of Islamophobes, that is an enormous amount of exposure.

422
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:15:49am

re: #417 Myron Falwell (no relation)

In order to pull that off, he’d have to stab his supporters in the back, fire Bannon and the entire cabinet, order Pence to resign, and publicly repudiate every single entity that has backed him up to this point in time.

I don’t even think he’s THAT mentally unstable.

Let us not misunderestimate this fellow…

423
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:15:56am

re: #418 Kragar

It took Trump a long time to get Paul Ryan on his side… .

424
Citizen K  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:16:03am

re: #421 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

compared to a lot of Islamophobes, that is an enormous amount of exposure.

True. But he still comes off as the kind of prick that believes he knows all about black people because he listens to rap on the radio.

425
gocart mozart  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:16:22am

Current Mood

426
Sir John Barron  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:17:04am

re: #408 Myron Falwell (no relation)

Which will only last for a few days… or, if Trump is lucky, a few weeks.

Nowhere to go but down…

One key factor to watch will be how Fox News and wingnut blogs continue to treat him, whether or how soon his most devoted followers start becoming disenchanted. But keep in mind he hasn’t had to make any choices yet of any consequence. His cabinet picks are choices, of course. But as long as he spreads those around to people his base likes, they’ll continue to follow him. But actual decisions that benefit some and hurt others may be different. If most Trumpoids are happy with the appearance of things and don’t care much for specifics, he could hold them for a while.

427
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:17:29am

re: #424 Citizen K

True. But he still comes off as the kind of prick that believes he knows all about black people because he listens to rap on the radio.

Compared to the bigots who base their opinion of black people on Beyoncé’s Super Bowl show…

428
Sir John Barron  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:18:37am

re: #418 Kragar

[Embedded content]

“But let’s talk more about Hillary’s emails and corruption and the Clinton Foundation and pay for play.”

///

429
Citizen K  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:18:43am

re: #427 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

Compared to the bigots who base their opinion of black people on Beyoncé’s Super Bowl show…

You can still make a case for legitimate, if malicious, ignorance in their cases. Jared is a prime case of Dunning-Kruger.

430
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:21:34am

re: #414 Interesting Times

Remember how Dubya’s approval ratings shot up to the 90s in the aftermath of 9/11? That’s why my biggest fear at this point is an Operation Northwoods-style false flag attack within the first few months of Cheetolini’s admin.

Does Trump hold the ability to pull off a statesman act after something like that? Especially when his whole existence (and that of the GOP) is based on pure division and class warfare?

His inauguration will be a disaster unto itself.

431
Stanley Sea  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:21:40am

re: #400 The Vicious Babushka

WHOA

[Embedded content]

Can’t believe that his hair isn’t bothering him. Bad photo, bad asshole.

432
Kragar  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:22:21am
433
BeachDem  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:22:38am

re: #381 darthstar

Okay…this on top of the Time thing is likely to set a few people off.

[Embedded content]

The same poll also shows Newt and Rudy with positive numbers, 47% want Dems to go along with Trump in the first year; 67% said Trump does not have to choose between his businesses and being president; 51% approve of his cabinet picks; 40% high school grad or less; the only campaign promises they think he’ll accomplish are repealing Obamacare and making good trade deals, but they don’t care—73% are fine with him “making adjustments”

assets.bwbx.io

Who the fuck are these people?

434
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:23:08am

re: #417 Myron Falwell (no relation)

In order to pull that off, he’d have to stab his supporters in the back, fire Bannon and the entire cabinet, order Pence to resign, and publicly repudiate every single entity that has backed him up to this point in time.

I don’t even think he’s THAT mentally unstable.

His supporters are not necessarily Republicans: they hate the GOP establishment nearly as much as they hate the Democrats and voted for DT to spite them both. He knows that, and he can turn on the GOP any time he wants to and with impunity.

435
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:23:22am

re: #430 Myron Falwell (no relation)

Does Trump hold the ability to pull off a statesman act after something like that? Especially when his whole existence (and that of the GOP) is based on pure division and class warfare?

His inauguration will be a disaster unto itself.

He’s going to choreograph the inauguration like an episode of “The Apprentice” Buhleeve mee. Ittle bee tremendous!!!

436
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:23:23am
437
gocart mozart  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:24:00am
438
Citizen K  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:24:33am

re: #436 Birth Control Works

With the exception of Nikki Haley, Trump’s cabinet picks so far are generals, billionaires or multimillionaires

You know, just normal, average, working class Americans!

439
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:25:04am

re: #433 BeachDem

The same poll also shows Newt and Rudy with positive numbers, 47% want Dems to go along with Trump in the first year; 67% said Trump does not have to choose between his businesses and being president; 51% approve of his cabinet picks; 40% high school grad or less; the only campaign promises they think he’ll accomplish are repealing Obamacare and making good trade deals, but they don’t care—73% are fine with him “making adjustments”

assets.bwbx.io

Who the fuck are these people?

This is the advantage of being elected into office with absolutely no legislative or administrative record. He can really do what he wants and it will be entirely consistent with who he is: an opportunist

440
Sir John Barron  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:25:05am

re: #426 Sir John Barron

One key factor to watch will be how Fox News and wingnut blogs continue to treat him, whether or how soon his most devoted followers start becoming disenchanted. But keep in mind he hasn’t had to make any choices yet of any consequence. His cabinet picks are choices, of course. But as long as he spreads those around to people his base likes, they’ll continue to follow him. But actual decisions that benefit some and hurt others may be different. If most Trumpoids are happy with the appearance of things and don’t care much for specifics, he could hold them for a while.

In the meantime, Dems need to win back the governorships and state legislatures, particularly in Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan. There’s not a perfect correlation between a party’s control of state government and its vote for a presidential candidate, but it isn’t a coincidence that GOP governors control those three states. I don’t mean vote suppression, although there may be some of that, especially in WI. But if there isn’t a popular Dem figure in the state, if the public doesn’t regard that state’s Dem figures positively, or if they aren’t happy with their state’s Dem party, that makes it all the harder for the national Dem to win that state.

441
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:25:05am

re: #438 Citizen K

You know, just normal, average, working class Americans!

or anyone who has ever been a working class American.

442
lawhawk  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:26:55am

re: #433 BeachDem

Dollars to donuts they’re people who aren’t going to be immediately affected by Trump decisions. They’re the ones insulated from the economic repercussions of rolling back health care insurance coverages (probably because most get insurance through employers), or rolling back birth control access, or abortion access, etc., or that don’t think about the consequences of voter ID rules that suppress voting and diminish all rights, or that the CRA will be gutted just as surely as the VRA has been (hence the spate of rules by states formerly governed by VRA procedures that suddenly were free to impose all manner of restrictions, including reducing the number of polling places).

The common clay of the new West. You know… morons.

443
gocart mozart  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:27:11am
444
gocart mozart  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:28:29am
445
gocart mozart  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:30:10am

There should be more tweets with this effect. Expose lying liars who lie.

446
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:30:12am
447
ObserverArt  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:32:38am

re: #397 The Vicious Babushka

NO SHIT

Washington Post

@washingtonpost

Study: Clinton-Trump coverage was a feast of false equivalency wapo.st by @erikwemple
2:01 PM - 7 Dec 2016

I wonder if somewhere on the other side of the room where the WaPo reporters do their thing is Chris Cillizza reading this story?

448
Belafon  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:32:46am

I got another seed planted today. One of the guys I work with is an A&M grad, so I showed him the poster at the top and told him about Richard Spencer. I made sure to make the school sound good overall - the protesters were a good thing - and put in a few bad apples. But I explained alt-right and how its straight up Nazi.

449
gocart mozart  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:33:26am
450
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:33:45am

re: #443 gocart mozart

I remember George Carlin doing a sketch about those guys running around in camo suits in the middle of a city and how they need uniforms that look like car grilles, trash bins and Marlboro ads…

451
ObserverArt  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:34:08am

re: #400 The Vicious Babushka

WHOA

[Embedded content]

Horns? Creative License. Me likey!

452
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:34:19am
453
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:36:16am

too much power in the hands of one person . .

454
Belafon  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:37:27am

re: #453 Birth Control Works

too much power in the hands of one person . .

We’ll spend part of the next four years sounding like libertarians, while people like Norquist won’t say anything.

455
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:38:09am

re: #453 Birth Control Works

Trump’s offhand, factually incorrect tweet about Boeing and Air Force One wiped a billion off share value. He’s too reckless for the office.

on the other hand, a lot of that share value is our Tax Dollars at Work, so I am not too bothered about this particular aspect of it.

but this is only the beginning of an unparalleled level of private meddling by a public official at the highest level

456
Backwoods_Sleuth  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:38:15am
457
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:38:20am

re: #434 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

His supporters are not necessarily Republicans: they hate the GOP establishment nearly as much as they hate the Democrats and voted for DT to spite them both. He knows that, and he can turn on the GOP any time he wants to and with impunity.

It’s possible.

But that’s assuming that he knows the GOP rank-and-file will fail spectacularly on practically everything they try (even failing to repeal the ACA). Thus, he lets them fail, setting himself up to turn heel and fire everyone.

That’s stretching my suspension of disbelief to the ultimate limits. He’s too much of a known quantity that such a heel turn won’t be believable.

458
The Vicious Babushka  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:39:39am
459
Backwoods_Sleuth  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:39:45am
460
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:40:38am

re: #457 Myron Falwell (no relation)

It’s possible.

But that’s assuming that he knows the GOP rank-and-file will fail spectacularly on practically everything they try (even failing to repeal the ACA). Thus, he lets them fail, setting himself up to turn heel and fire everyone.

That’s stretching my suspension of disbelief to the ultimate limits. He’s too much of a known quantity that such a heel turn won’t be believable.

He is not a known quantity in the political sense, as he has no record of public service, only of self service (often at the public’s expense)

461
lawhawk  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:40:50am

re: #454 Belafon

Why would he? he’s getting the tax cuts he wants.

All those deficit hawks will disappear because deficits and the debt are missing metrics while a Republican is in office.

How will this be accomplished? It’ll start with the GOP pushing for dynamic scoring to hide the extent of the massive debt they’re running up. Then they’ll point at a squirrel and ignore the question. All while ignoring that the economy isn’t growing fast enough to cover the admin’s assumptions and the debt grows and we tip into a recession where the states are ill prepared to handle because they have nothing to cut except core services since they’ve determined that tax cuts are more important than providing basic services.

462
gocart mozart  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:40:54am
463
Backwoods_Sleuth  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:41:49am
464
Kragar  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:41:51am
465
gocart mozart  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:42:50am

Heh.

466
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:44:35am

re: #455 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

on the other hand, a lot of that share value is our Tax Dollars at Work, so I am not too bothered about this particular aspect of it.

but this is only the beginning of an unparalleled level of private meddling by a public official at the highest level

The unintended consequences (or intended) of someone with his history and connections in the Oval Office are truly disturbing

467
Interesting Times  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:45:05am

re: #430 Myron Falwell (no relation)

Does Trump hold the ability to pull off a statesman act after something like that? Especially when his whole existence (and that of the GOP) is based on pure division and class warfare?

That’s the thing, though - trump would use a terrorist attack (either staged a la Operation Northwoods or one that happens through the sheer incompetence/negligence of his admin) as the perfect excuse to go full-on Fascist - and anyone who dares oppose him will be demonized as unpatriotic/a traitor (in other words, media-climate-during-Bush-admin on steroids).

The only questions are:

a) which country gets invaded?
b) will enough Americans fall for it yet again?

468
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:45:46am

re: #465 gocart mozart

If the press would cover me accurately & honorably, I would have far less reason to “tweet.” Sadly, I don’t know if that will ever happen!

Donald Trump as the final arbiter of accuracy and honor when it comes to covering him…

469
Stanley Sea  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:46:30am

re: #436 Birth Control Works

[Embedded content]

Middle America WON!

470
austin_blue  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:46:31am

So who is the new nominated EPA Administrator?

Scott Pruitt, the AG in Oklahoma! Defender of the environment?

From Wiki:

Pruitt has also sued the United States Environmental Protection Agency on behalf of Oklahoma utilities unwilling to take on the burdens of additional regulation of their coal-fired plants, and criticized the agency in a congressional hearing. [19][20] This is one of several lawsuits Pruitt has failed against the EPA.[21]

Fuck 2016, and Fuck tRump.

471
Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:46:51am

re: #467 Interesting Times

That’s the thing, though - trump would use a terrorist attack (either staged a la Operation Northwoods or one that happens through the sheer incompetence/negligence of his admin) as the perfect excuse to go full-on Fascist - and anyone who dares oppose him will be demonized as unpatriotic/a traitor (in other words, media-climate-during-Bush-admin on steroids).

The only questions are:

a) which country gets invaded?
b) will enough Americans fall for it yet again?

answers;

a) does it matter?
b) yes, and the press will go along with heads bowed…

472
Birth Control Works  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:49:56am

bbl

473
gocart mozart  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:51:14am
474
BeachDem  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:54:27am

re: #461 lawhawk

Why would he? he’s getting the tax cuts he wants.

All those deficit hawks will disappear because deficits and the debt are missing metrics while a Republican is in office.

How will this be accomplished? It’ll start with the GOP pushing for dynamic scoring to hide the extent of the massive debt they’re running up. Then they’ll point at a squirrel and ignore the question. All while ignoring that the economy isn’t growing fast enough to cover the admin’s assumptions and the debt grows and we tip into a recession where the states are ill prepared to handle because they have nothing to cut except core services since they’ve determined that tax cuts are more important than providing basic services.

So exactly what happens under every Republican administration (except for the going to war with any country that insults Trump, etc.)

475
Myron Falwell (no relation)  Dec 7, 2016 • 11:57:36am

re: #467 Interesting Times

That’s the thing, though - trump would use a terrorist attack (either staged a la Operation Northwoods or one that happens through the sheer incompetence/negligence of his admin) as the perfect excuse to go full-on Fascist - and anyone who dares oppose him will be demonized as unpatriotic/a traitor (in other words, media-climate-during-Bush-admin on steroids).

The only questions are:

a) which country gets invaded?
b) will enough Americans fall for it yet again?

a.) Take a pushpin and stick it at random on a basic globe. Doesn’t matter. If he wanted to attack the Vatican, then they’ll bomb the Vatican.
b.) Only the 46%… not hardly enough to quell the potential violence and bloodshed bordering on government-collapsing anarchy. Which is what Bannon lusts over.

476
electrotek  Dec 7, 2016 • 12:52:18pm

re: #421 Wendell Zurkowitz ((slave to the waffle light))

compared to a lot of Islamophobes, that is an enormous amount of exposure.

But then there are Islamophobes who come from Muslim countries and often say they had exposure to Islam their entire lives and know first-hand how evil Muslims are and how they are not to be trusted (i.e. Middle Eastern Christians, Iranian exiles, Indian Hindus, etc.).

477
Joe Bacon  Dec 7, 2016 • 1:02:23pm

re: #399 darthstar

Hey, we survived Bush, we can survive this asshole. The important thing is to hope the indictments of his first round appointments come fast enough that we can have a few years to recover before we elect [_T_B_D__] to be our knight in shining armor.

Not everyone did…


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